Crash Into Me
by letswriteonwalls
Summary: The song is old and he doesn't know why she's playing it. The only thing he's sure of is that she plays it well.
1. Prologue

Two teenagers, a boy and a girl, sit on the bleachers in an old gym painted blue and grey. Her dark hair flows loosely onto her shoulders and frames her face as she absently plucks the strings of the old guitar in her hand. His dirty blond hair is messy and sticking up slightly in places while he spins a basketball on his pointer finger. He flips it in the air and catches it firmly between his hands.

"Do you believe in fate?" The abruptness of the question cuts through the air between them.

There's a slight pause before the answer comes. "I don't know." Another pause before, "Do you?"

This time there is no hesitation before the response. "No."

"So you don't think that everything happens for a reason? That everything we do has consequences and affects something else?"

"No." The retort is short and curt.

"Why not?"

"I just don't think it makes any sense. How can it be true that people are meant to die when they have so much life left to live and one person can fall in love with someone whose completely wrong for them and that there are children out there who are just meant to grow up missing parents?"

There's a longer pause this time before the answer is spoken quietly. "But what if it is meant to happen? People die to make way for new opportunities and we fall in love with the wrong person to see if we're strong enough to handle whatever they bring with them. Maybe children without parents are stronger then the ones who have them. Maybe they're not. You can only be the person you let yourself be, right?"

The question is carefully avoided. Soon a new question is asked. "Do you think we're like them?"

There's a smile before the response comes this time. "In some ways, yes. We came from them. They made us who we are and I think part of us will always carry part of them. But at the same time, no. We are who we are and we're going to do great things on our own. And eventually the stories that they left behind for us will be replaced by something new and completely different. Something that belongs just to us."

"But what if you're wrong. Maybe we're all just here. Not going anywhere. Just wandering around with no direction or purpose. Everything could just be by chance, right? What if it doesn't mean anything at all?"

"What if it does?"

Instead of continuing their discussion, they fall into their silence.

The girl starts to make a melody that the boy recognizes. The song is old and he doesn't know why she's playing it but he does know that she plays it well. Before she can start singing, however, he stands up and shoots the ball towards the hoop. Even though he's well past the three point line, the ball softly swishes through. As it hits the floor and bounces away from them, he sits back down and leans back.

"Show off."

He smirks and tilts his head back. He's always felt the calmest here. He knows the history of this gym and would be lying if he said he didn't love it. He loves to think of everything that happened here over the years. The history that was made. Even before he was born. When he's in this room, everything feels possible. Like he could do anything in the world, conquer any dream he could think up. He couldn't explain the feeling to anyone, not even the girl sitting next to him. A small smile tugs at his mouth as he gets lost in his thoughts.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing." His smile grows. "Everything. Them. Us. The past. The future."

Instead of an answer, all that can be heard is a frustrated sigh.

"I hate when you answer me like that. Why do I even bother asking anymore?"

He doesn't reply and neither of them says anything for a moment. They're content to just sit with each other in this silence.

"Do you think that if they knew then, what we know now, things would be different? That they would have made different choices if someone had told them everything that was going to happen?"

He shrugs nonchalantly. "Maybe. But isn't that what makes it mysterious? No one knows if the way things are is the only way they could have been. People mess up and they think next time, next time I'll do something different. Or, on the off chance that something actually goes right in their lives, they think that they have to keep doing things they way they've been doing them to keep their luck. Otherwise, things will start to change for the worse. What if it's not like that, though? Maybe whatever's going to happen is going to happen and all the things we do to change our lives don't actually mean anything."

The girl raises an eyebrow and smiles sarcastically. "So now you take a stand on the whole fate thing."

"I guess."

She leans back next to him and says, "Sometimes I wish I could go back. Back to before it all began and warn them. Or at least prepare them. Tell them what's coming and exactly what they need to do to change it. To make it better. Easier."

There isn't any response to this declaration. They sit together and both get lost in their own thoughts. The girl eventually picks her guitar back up and starts strumming out the melody again. As she begins to hum softly to herself, the boy eyes the ball and weighs his yearning to play and how he doesn't feel like getting up to retrieve it. Eventually, his laziness wins out and he leans his head back again. As he shuts his eyes, he thinks about what the girl had just said. What would he do if he did have a chance to warn them?


	2. Chapter 1

There's a roar in the crowd as people gather for the basketball game at Tree Hill High. They talk about everything from the weather to the other Scott boy on the team. Everyone is hoping he plays better than he did in the first game. They know Whitey wouldn't have put him on the team if he wasn't talented, but he certainly wasn't showing any promise yet.

The noise reaches it's peak just as the two teams make their way onto the court. Lucas Scott looks around and swallows nervously. Everytime he gets ready to play, he remembers his first game. He didn't like letting the team down like that and he doesn't want to repeat it. As his eyes scan the crowd, he sees a certain blond cheerleader on the sidelines.

_ "Your art matters. It's what got me here."_

He smiles as he remembers those words. Maybe, just maybe, he was going to have a chance with Peyton Sawyer after all.

He looks into the crowd and sees Haley sitting next to Mouth and Skills. She grins at him and in return he waves to her. His mom and Keith are situated not far away and he smiles slightly as she waves at him excitedly. His expression turns sour as he sees his father pacing in front of the stands. He swallows again, this time angrily, and grimaces as he watches the man shout at Nathan from the sidelines. As his gaze continues to sweep the room he sees Deb just coming in the door and catches the disgusted look she shoots her husband upon seeing his so called coaching. Watching this unfold, Lucas thinks once again that he's the luckier of the two brothers.

He glances over towards the cheerleaders and smiles to himself. Peyton looks less than thrilled to be here. She cheers unenthusiastically along with Brooke, who soon enough catches him looking and winks at him. He quickly turns his attention just in time for Whitey to yell at him to get to work warming up.

As he starts to run out onto the court, he feels a shift in the air. The noise of the crowd dulls and the entire gym dims. Just as quickly as it began, the yelling starts up again and the lights brighten. He looks around to see if anyone else had noticed and realizes that Dan has finally stopped yelling. Jake Jagielski calls from across the court, "What the hell was that, man?"

Lucas doesn't even have time to shrug his shoulders when it starts again. This time the noise disappears completely and the lights flicker before going out. He hears a loud ringing in his ears and instinctively looks to find Peyton. Her eyes are wide when they meet his. She flickers before his eyes and in her place is Peyton. Only this one is different. He hair isn't as curly and she wears a flowy white dress. The biggest difference is that there's a smile on her face and he can tell in that moment that she isn't the same girl he knows. He only sees her for an instant when she disappears and his Peyton comes back. He's about to say something, when he hears his name being called from across the gym.

"Lucas!" He snaps his attention around to Haley and that's when he notices that pretty much everyone is gone. His mom and Keith are frozen on the stands while Dan looks around somewhat frantically. His best friend starts to climb down the bleachers with Mouth and Skills following her closely. Nathan and Jake begin to jog over to him. Deb soon starts to do the same, as well as Brooke. He looks to his side and jumps slightly when he sees Peyton is already there.

"What the hell is going on?" Dan marches towards them and looks at them as if he expects them to have an answer. Lucas ignores him notices that only half of the lights are on in the gym and they're standing on the darker side. No one says anything until Nathan breaks the silence.

"This has got to be a dream."

Lucas snorts and decides this has to be the first time he's ever agreed with his brother on anything. Soon enough, everyone is talking at once, trying to give their input on exactly what was happening. Lucas doesn't say anything for a minute but instead tries to listen beyond their voices.

"Hey, shut up," he says. "Does anyone else hear that?"

"_You've got your ball._

_You've got your chain_

_tied to me tight, tie me up again._

_Whose got their claws in you my friend?_

_Into your heart I'll beat again."_

They all look over and see a girl sitting on the far end of the bleachers. Lucas swears she hadn't been there a minute ago. She has a worn guitar in her hands and is gently playing as she sings to herself. Her straight, dark hair partly shields her face while her head is tucked down watching her hands. Her voice is clear and loud.

"_Sweet like candy to my soul,_

_sweet you rock and sweet you roll._

_Lost for you, I'm so lost, for you."_

"Lily!"

The girl's head snaps up and she smiles. She hears the thud of a basketball before she sees him and rolls her eyes. When does the boy not have a basketball?

A blond haired boy runs out onto the court. He dribbles around for a bit before shooting a jump shot. After retrieving the ball, he turns towards her and grins. "What's up?"

She shakes her head at him. "You're such a show off. Just like your dad."

He just shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly and says, "What can I say? It's how I was raised." She rolls her eyes again and places her guitar down next to her. Standing up, she walks down to him and quickly grabs the ball.

"One on one?" She grins mischievously.

He smirks at her before saying, "You're so dead."

The group on the other side of the gym watches this exchange in fascination.

"Who are they?"

Peyton rolls her eyes at her boyfriend and shakes her head slightly. "This is crazy. None of this can be happening."

Mostly everyone nods their heads. Dan, on the otherhand, says, "Is this some kind of joke?" He turns to Whitey. "Do you have something to do with this?," he accuses. Whitey angrily draws his breath in but before he can say anything Deb cuts in.

"Dan, stop be ridiculous. None of us planned this. How could we have?"

Before Dan can retort, Karen quickly says, "I don't think they can see us." She inclines her head towards the two teenagers playing on the other side of the court. Keith nods his head in agreement.

They all turn their attention back to the pair. The boy had just stolen the ball from the girl and gotten it in the basket easily.

"He shoots! He scores! Jamie Scott for the win!"

The girls just shakes her head and laughs at him. "Soooo full of yourself."

The others look between themselves and wait for someone to say something.

"Scott?" Nathan finally whispers.

"Maybe it's a coincidence?" says Brooke. Lucas glances at his mother and when their eyes meet he knows it can't be just chance that another boy in this room has their last name.

"Hey! Can you two help us?"

Everyone turns around and stares at Peyton.

"What? Did you really expect me to just stand around here waiting all day? We need to figure out what's going on." She quickly walks away from them and starts heading towards the boy and girl. "Hellooo? Can you hear me?"

By the time they all catch up to her, it's obvious that they can't be seen by whoever these two are. They're lost in the game even though neither of them is really taking it seriously. It isn't until the girl had stolen the ball and faked left before spinning right that anything happened. As she turned, she ran right into Keith. Or where Keith would have been if she hadn't gone right through him.

Lily gasped and dropped the ball. Everyone stared wide-eyed at her, waiting to see what would happen. Jamie quickly got over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "You okay, Lils?"

She nodded her head unsurely. It's was the craziest thing. For a moment it had felt like she was being sucked away. Everything had gone quiet and she had gotten a chill straight down her spine. She struggled to get her heart under control as she turned to look at Jamie. "Yeah, I don't know what just happened. I must have just gotten winded or something."

She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head slightly. Her ears were still ringing. "I think I'm gonna go home. I don't know what's wrong with me."

Jamie frowned at her. "Come on. I'll walk you. I don't want you passing out on your way." Usually one to resist help, Lily just nodded her head weakly and started to look around her. Jamie ran up the bleachers to grab her guitar and was back by her side in no time. He put his arm around her and started to lead her towards the door. She peeked back over her shoulder and wrinkled her forehead. She must be going crazy. For a moment it had almost felt like her dad had been with her.

The group that remained in the gym remained silent for a minute before they all erupted in speech. Everyone was trying to talk over each other until finally a shrill piercing noise filled the air. Whitey took the whistle out of his mouth and said, "All of you, shut the hell up. Arguing isn't going to get us anywhere. All it's going to do is cause more problems." Everyone quieted down. "Now, does anyone have any idea what the hell could be happening?"

"I'm still convinced it's a dream." They all turned their attention to Brooke. "What? None of this makes sense. One minute we're in a packed gym right before the game starts and now we're standing here alone sometime in the future. It's just not possible."

Deb said, "The future?"

Nathan answered before the young cheerleader got a chance. "We're in the future. Look at the years on the banners." The group started to actually look at their surroundings.

Dan wrinkled his forehead. "Where did my jersey go? And who is Fields?" They all looked towards the three jerseys hanging on the wall. Nathan raised his eyebrows. "Hey, my jersey's up there," he stated.

Lucas looked at the banner hanging from the ceiling and remarked, "Looks like we win the state championship next year." Everyone looked up and Whitey grinned. Nathan smiles as well before murmuring under his breath, "Awesome."

"That's all great, but it doesn't answer our questions of how we're going to get back to wherever we were before," Keith said.

Silence fell over them once again before the ringing in their ears started again. They all looked around nervously only the see the gym stay exactly the way it was. Just as Karen was about to say something, the same girl as before burst through the gym doors. She threw her schoolbag on the floor and sat down on the bottom row of bleachers. She cradled her head in her hairs and blew her breathe out.

Soon after, the same boy as before came in. "Lily, what's going on with you?" Getting no answer, he walked closer to her and knelt in front of her. "Come on. Tell me what's wrong. Please?" She shook her head and he quickly slid up next to her and wrapped his arm around he shoulder. "Lily, we're best friends. You can tell me anything, remember? That's what I'm here for." She breathed in deeply.

"I read the book."

He looked at her confused for a moment. "What book?" His expression cleared as he realized what she was talking about. "Ravens?"

She nodded her head and glanced up at him. He could see the beginning of tears forming in her eyes and wrinkled his forehead. It was rare that she got like this.

"I thought I knew. I thought I understood. But when I read the book, I got to the part with the shooting and it was just so much worse than I ever thought it could be. It was like I was living it myself. Like I was there. I just don't understand why it happened. To him. Or to me. It's just not fair."

Jamie just looked at her sadly and wrapped him other arm around her. He was unsure of what her should to say to comfort her. She buried her head in his chest and sighed. "I just wish I had met him once. Just once. I wish I didn't have to learn about him from other people. I want to know what he was like when he was alive. What kind of person he was and what kind of father he was."

Jamie just hugged her tighter and whispered, "I know." He couldn't understand what was going through her mind. When he was younger, he remembered asking questions about his Uncle Keith but he never really felt the pain of missing him since they had never met.

"The other day when we were playing ball in here and you had to walk me home, I could have sworn I felt him. It was like, even though I never met him, I just knew he was here."

He looked at her with a mixture of sadness and confusion. "Lil...How?"

She stiffened in his arms. "I don't know, Jamie. All I know if that I wasn't imagining it. I'm not crazy. I know what I felt even if you don't believe me. And I don't appreciate you sitting here with that look on your face. Like you feel bad for me. I'm not telling you this so you can pity me. I'm telling you this because you're my best friend but if you're going to feel bad for me I'll stop right now."

Jamie didn't say anything in response to her attitude. He just hugged her tighter and rested his chin on top of her head. He knew she was just upset and didn't mean to come off so angry with him.

Meanwhile, Keith had tilted his head as he looked at the girl. He had a weird sense that he knew what this girl was talking about. He didn't know if he should mention his theory to the rest of them but before he could make up his mind, the room seemed to go unsteady beneath their feet.

Lucas only had time to wonder how many more times this was going to happen before everything went still again. It was no surprise when they looked at their surroundings and saw they hadn't actually gone anywhere. They were still in the gym. Only this time, instead of the boy and the girl being there, Peyton was sitting on the bleachers watching a young girl run around the court in front of her.


	3. Chapter 2

**Nothing belongs to me. Obviously. Thanks for reading and I hope you like it. Don't forget to review!**

* * *

Peyton knew the woman sitting on the bleachers in front of them was her. But at the same time it wasn't. Her curls were looser and darker than she had ever seen them. She was wearing a white dress that cut off right above her knees and for a second the younger Peyton tried to remember the last time she had worn something that wasn't black or dark blue.

The thing that was most surprising to her was the little girl that was playing before them. She looked to be about 2, if that, and had a small orange basketball that she was clumsily bouncing against the wooden floor. As she looked at the child, she knew that this was her daughter. The girl looked exactly like she had at that age with her tight pale blond curls and tiny frame. Peyton just shook her head and took a step back.

"P. Sawyer. You okay?"

She snapped her head around and looked at Brooke but didn't respond. She wasn't okay. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She was about to answer her best friend when they all heard the loud bang of the gym door shutting behind them.

"B. Davis!" The Peyton on the bleachers had stood up with a big smile on her face and called out to Brooke. Compared to the younger Brooke in her cheerleading uniform, this older woman looked much more mature. Her hair fell loosely on her shoulders and was darker than it had been when she was 17. She was wearing short jean shorts and deep purple shirt with a pair of dangerous looking heels. She had a mixed expression on her face somewhere between happiness, relief, and confusion.

Peyton, in the meantime, had jumped off the bleachers and gone to meet her friend. She threw her arms around Brooke and said, "I've missed you!"

The group behind them saw Brooke squeeze her eyes shut and bury her head in the blond's shoulder. "I've missed you too P. Sawyer." This statement came out as a sort of raspy whisper instead of her usual cheery tone.

Peyton immediately let go and leaned back. "What's wrong?" she questioned, concern immediately covering her face.

Brooke just shook her head. "Let's not talk about it yet." She looked anywhere to avoid meeting Peyton's eyes. "I just want to see my niece." A big smile broke out on her face as she looked down at the little girl who had wandered over to them. She quickly squatted down in front of the child.

"Hey, pretty girl. Do you remember me?"

The little girl stuck her thumb in her mouth before shaking her head and leaning against Peyton's leg.

"I'm your Aunt Brooke. And I have something for you."

Sawyer smiled shyly and pulled her hand away from her mouth.

Peyton watched this exchange with a smile on her face and raised her eyebrows when she noticed the bag Brooke had in her hand. "Brooke, what did you do?"

The brunette just smiled and shrugged slightly. "Nothing. I just wanted to test out some of my new designs on your daughter. I mean I haven't seen her in like a year and a half. I have to catch up on all the spoiling I missed."

"You've been sending her clothes at least twice a month since we've been gone. In fact, I'm pretty sure she's wearing something you made right now."

Brooke just shrugged again and said, "I know. But she's getting bigger. She's gonna outgrow all that stuff soon."

Peyton just rolled her eyes and bent down to scoop the little girl up in her arms. "Hey, baby girl. Aunt Brooke has a present for you." The little girl just leaned her head against Peyton's and stared at Brooke. Peyton looked at Brooke and shrugged. They both grinned at each other before sitting down.

As Brooke started sorting through the bag of clothes, Peyton looked at her best friend. She started to see the things the hadn't noticed at first like the dark circles under her eyes covered with make-up and how bloodshot her eyes were from up close. "Brooke?"

"Yeah." Brooke was holding up a green and blue dress in front of the baby to try and see if it would fit. When Peyton didn't answer, she looked up and made eye contact.

"What's wrong?"

Brooke smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. She quickly looked away but not before Peyton saw the tears starting to form. "Hey," she said putting her hand over Brooke's. "What is it?" Brooke looked down at her lap and Peyton ducked her head to try and make eye contact again. "Whatever it is, we'll figure it out."

Brooke looked up again and grimaced slightly. She shook her head slightly and muttered, "I don't think this is something you can figure out."

Peyton just tilted her head and looked at her best friend with a worried look on her face.

Brooke sighed and brought her head up to look Peyton in the eye. "I'm pregnant."

Peyton's eyes widened. "What?" Brooke just nodded and looked around the gym. "But...I thought you couldn't...I mean...Is it Julians?"

Brooke quickly looked at Peyton and said, "Of course it's Julian's."

A grin started to spread across Peyton's face as she grabbed the brunette and pulled her closer for a hug. "Brooke. That's amazing! This is what you wanted."

Brooke shook her head as they separated. "That was before everything got complicated. I mean I don't even know how it happened." She saw the playful look on the blond's face and quickly continued, "I mean I know how it happened. But doctor said it wasn't possible. I never would have stopped taking my birth control if I knew..." She trailed off.

Peyton said, "What did the doctor say?"

"She said it's extremely rare but it has been known to happen. She said it's a miracle."

Peyton let this sink in for a minute. "How far along are you?"

"6 weeks the doctor said."

"How do you feel?"

"I feel fine. I have some morning sickness but it's not horrible. But hings just got good again between Julian and I. All that time I wanted a baby before and I would have been so incredibly happy to be pregnant. Then the doctor told me I would never have kids and I was crushed. It's something that I never knew I wanted so bad until I moved back to Tree Hill. That's why I decided to foster Angie and Sam. And when I thought I was pregnant before, yeah, I was scared but at the same time a big part of me was just happy that I would finally be able to start my own family. Watching you and Haley have kids made me see how amazing it really was. But then I wasn't pregnant and I thought I would was never going to be and that's when we started to have problems. Mostly because of Alex but a lot of it was my fault too. Ever since we got back together we've been in this sort of honeymoon state. Which I'm guessing is what got us here. Damn make-up sex."

Brooke had sort of muttered the last sentence to herself but it broke the surprised look on Peyton's face. She let out a short, startled laugh and Brooke began to smile despite herself. Peyton readjusted the girl on her lap and picked up Brooke's hand. "Brooke. It's going to be fine. It may not seem like it now, but this is a good thing. You and Julian are going to be fine. You're both amazing people and you're going to be just as amazing as parents to this baby.

Brooke just sighed. "Part of me knows that but part of me is just kicking myself for letting this happen. I just wish I was married. Or older. Or both."

This time Peyton really did laughed. "Are you kidding me? Haley and Nathan had Jamie when they were seventeen. And look at how well that worked out for them. I don't know if you've noticed but he's such a great kid. Plus, I wasn't married when I got pregnant. And I like to think we're doing a good job with Sawyer." Upon hearing her name, the little girl picked her head up off Peyton's chest and grinned at her mother. "Yeah we're doing just fine aren't we, baby girl?"

Brooke let herself smile at the pair before saying, "You were engaged though."

"Well, you know you and Julian could get married."

Brooke rolled her eyes a little. "After a month and a half of being together again. That seems a little rushed even for me. You know, I almost asked him once. After we'd been going out for a little bit over a year. I wrote it in the sand at the beach but before he saw it he told me that he had been offered a long term job in New Zealand and he was thinking about taking it."

"Did he?"

Brooke shook her head. "No, but in the back of my mind I know that there's always going to be jobs and eventually he's going to have to start taking some of them. He can't keep producing only movies around here. Plus, the whole thing with Alex has really brought up some trust issues in both of us."

Peyton raised her eyebrows. "Well, that will all come back. It's just going to take some time."

Brooke sighed and said, "I know. But it's just hard for me to learn to trust people. Especially after they do something break it." They looked at each other and something unspoken passed between them.

Brooke shook her head as if to clear and started sorting through her bag again. She pulled out another dress, this time pink with a purple ribbon around the waist. "What do you think about this one, Sawyer?"

The little girl smiled shyly and stuck her thumb back in her mouth.

"Sawyer? Do you like the dress?" asked Peyton. The girl smiled again and pulled her hand away from her face long enough to say a quiet, "Yeah."

Brooke looked at Peyton and tilted her head to the side. Before she could say anything Peyton said, "She's really shy around people she's not used to. And she started talking late as it is. She can actually be pretty talkative when she knows everyone. It's just going to take her some time to warm up to you again. But she's going to love you. Just like you're baby's going to love you."

Brooke blinked rapidly and looked away again. When she looked back Sawyer had picked up one of her dresses and held it up to her body like Brooke had been doing earlier. Brooke and Peyton just laughed.

Brooke suddenly gasped and said, "Oh! I forgot something." She dug to the bottom of the bag and pulled a stuffed animal out. "This is for you, pretty girl."

Peyton grinned and said, "A purple monkey" as Sawyer reached out to take it.

"Yeah, it was actually Angie's but it fell out of my bag before I took her to the airport. I wanted Sawyer to have it. "

"Well, we're going to have to give it back in about seven and a half months aren't we?" Brooke smiled slightly and sighed.

"Listen, Brooke, I know you and I know you're freaking out about this entire thing but I think you need to just let yourself be happy about this. This is not a bad thing. Not at all. Soon enough you're going to realize this is the best thing that's ever happened to you."

Brooke met Peyton's eyes and said, "You know what? You're right. I'm not going to be upset about this anymore. Either Julian's okay with it or he's not. I'll just have to go from there."

Peyton nodded enthusiastically. "And you know you have me and Lucas and Haley and Nathan to help you out with this. You even have your mother now right?"

"Oh god, I didn't even think about what I was going to tell her." She thought to herself for a minute. "Maybe I can just not tell her and say I'm getting fat."

Peyton laughed. "And then what are you going to do when you, you know...have a baby?"

Brooke leaned her head back. "Ugghh I don't know. Whatever. I'll deal with her later. For right now, I just want to spend time with you two."

She picked up the purple monkey that Sawyer had just dropped and held her arms open to the girl. Sawyer looked at her mother questioningly and then back at Brooke. Peyton picked her up under her arms and held her out to Brooke. "Go on. Aunt Brooke won't bite you. Although she may just force you into a modeling career before you hit three."

Brooke narrowed her eyes at Peyton as she settled the girl on her lap. "Shut up. I would not do that. You watch. I'm gonna be her favorite aunt in no time. "

"Yeah yeah. Just don't say that to Haley."

The group had been watching this exchange in silence until now but as the two women settled back to catch up, the younger version of Brooke finally spoke up. "Wait a minute. This is insane. I get pregnant? I don't even like kids."

Haley looked at the women and said, "Well, that can't be completely true."

They all looked at the scene on the bleachers. It looked like Sawyer had already taken to Brooke. The three of them were laughing at something that had just been said and the little girl was obviously getting more comfortable.

"You're pregnant but I already had a kid," Peyton said. She shot her best friend a look. She thought that out of the two of them, she was the one most likely to be alone for the rest of her life.

"And I did too apparently," said Haley right after her. "At least you graduated high school first." Haley shook her head slightly thinking about having a baby before she even got her diploma.

Nathan looked down at her. She glanced at him but didn't hold his gaze. They had a baby together? He wondered if they got married. This really was insane. He didn't want to be like his father. Just getting his girlfriend pregnant and not following through.

Everyone else fell quiet as they kept listening to the conversation going on sometime in the future. Sawyer was struggling to get down and run and soon enough Brooke let her slide to the ground. The little girl picked up the little basketball again and started to bounce it. Each time she took a step away she would look back to see if Peyton and Brooke were watching her. At the same time, she was getting closer and closer to the group.

As she neared them, the younger Peyton said, "I wonder who her dad is?"

Everyone looked at her and then back at the little girl. Lucas had a feeling that he knew the answer to that question but didn't want to say anything. He didn't want to assume anything or make the blond cheerleader angry. He wasn't even completely sure she liked him at all yet. He hated mixed signals.

"Yeah, well, I'm wondering who this Julian guy is." Peyton looked at Brooke and smiled a little. "I'm also wondering what he looks like."

Dan watched these exchanges with his eyes squinted. He didn't know what the hell was going on but he was sure as hell going to find out. He looked around the group. There were thirteen people there including himself. They obviously all had some connection that brought them here.

"Can I ask you something?"

Peyton looked away from Sawyer at the sudden seriousness in Brooke's tone. "Sure. Anything."

"I know this is going to seem random but what happened between you and Jake in Savanna? What made you come back here and tell me you were in love with Lucas."

Peyton's eyes widened slightly and she quickly looked away from her best friend. She let out a long breath. This had been rough territory between them and she didn't really want to revisit it.

Brooke said, "I mean what made you tell me then? Why not earlier? Why not before everything that happened between us?"

Peyton stared intently at Sawyer. "Brooke, if there's one thing I regret in my relationship with Lucas, it's how I...we hurt you. That night at Nathan's he told me he wanted everything with me but I got scared. I thought I wasn't ready for something like that. Not so soon after Nathan and I didn't think that there could ever actually be anything between us. Not anything real anyway. Then you started talking about him and I was embarrassed by how I had reacted at the party so I told you you should go after him. I was in denial about how I really felt about him. I made a huge mistake."

With that she finally looked Brooke in the eyes. The brunette stared back at her but Peyton couldn't fully read the expression on her face.

"Then eventually, you guys started doing whatever you two were doing and it was too late. That night I showed up at his house when you were there I told him that I had been wrong. That I wanted to be with him and have everything that went along with it but then you walked in and I knew I was too late. He chose you. And I can completely understand that. I knew I had hurt him at that party and he had you and you're so amazing. It was no surprise that he did choose you. So I decided that if you two were happy together than I could be happy for you."

Brooke cut in, "So what happened? I've read the book. And I'm far from this still bothering me. But I think part of me has always wanted to hear your side of things. And back then I know neither of us really wanted to go there. So what happened? Between being happy for us and you two..." She trailed off at the end of her sentence.

Peyton looked away and thought for a minute. "When I thought my dad was dead and he took me to see if it was true. That's when it all changed. We went to the morgue and figured out it wasn't him. After that I realize I didn't have the bracelet on that my dad had given me when I was younger and I just freaked out about losing it. So we went back to the hotel we had stayed at. It was right on the bed where I had been sleeping but everything just caught up to me right then. I started crying and he was trying to calm me down and the next thing I knew we were just... And it was like we were the only people in the world. Until we weren't. Then he said your name and that was the end of it."

"That was the only time?"

Peyton hesitated. "No. There were two other times. I know it doesn't make it better but we were going to tell you. I swear we were. But then he got into the accident and you saw him on the webcam and by then it was too late."

"Why didn't you start dating then?"

"You know why. You and I have been best friends since we were 8, Brooke. I didn't want to throw all that away. I couldn't imagine my life without you. And I told Lucas that. It was hard but I couldn't loose you."

Brooke nodded and said, "What about the shooting?"

Peyton laughed. "Brooke, I got shot. We had spent the summer together while you were gone. While everyone was gone. We didn't have anyone but each other. You were with your parents and Nathan was at High Flyers and Haley had just gotten back from tour. Plus there was the whole thing with Dan and the fire and Karen was gone and I had just met Ellie and Jake was gone. With no one else around we helped each other through it all. Nothing happened between us. Then everyone came back and school started back up and everything went back to normal. By that point, he was my best friend after you. Brooke, when that gun went off, I saw my life flash before my eyes. I don't remember getting separated from you or getting into the library. Next thing I know Lucas is coming at me with a baseball bat and all I can do is be relieved. That I wasn't alone and I wasn't dead. I couldn't walk so he just sat with me. I told him it was glass in my leg but I knew in the back of my head it was a bullet. And there was so much blood. I could feel it coming out of me and even though he tried to stop it, it just wouldn't. Then I started to get dizzy and cold and next thing I know I was rambling on about our snow day when we were little. I thought I was going to die that day. With all that blood on the floor, I kept thinking there wasn't enough left in me for me to still be alive. And if I was dying, the only person besides you I would have wanted with me was him. So I told him I loved him and I kissed him and then I passed out. Then I woke up in the hospital and couldn't believe what I was done. I was embarrassed and guilty and I wanted to tell you but then I talked to him and he told me how in love he was with you and how he understood what I had said because of the blood loss and I just decided to let it go. If it wasn't a big deal to him then it wouldn't be to me either. I wouldn't let it be."

After this, Brooke leaned back against the bleacher. "You know I have never once stopped feeling guilty about losing you that day. As soon as I got outside and saw Lucas and Nathan, I realized that you weren't behind me like I thought you were. Then they both ran back into the school and I wanted to go but Whitey was yelling at me to get back onto the bus and people were screaming and I just left. And I've regretted it everyday since."

Peyton just shook her had. "Brooke the only thing that made me feel better in that library was the fact that I knew you were okay. When I realized I had lost you I was so scared. I thought that maybe you had been shot and you were laying back on the floor of the hallway, dead. I thought I left you."

They sat for a minute in silence before Brooke said, "You still haven't told me what happened with Jake that made you come back like you did."

Peyton sighed. "Well, you know I was supposed to go see Pete but I went to Georgia to see Jake instead. Seeing them again was amazing and I was happier then I had been in a long time. But I knew in the back of my mind that I would have to go home soon and I was dreading it. Nathan had Haley and you had Lucas and I just wasn't happy here. So I told him we should get married."

Brooke's eyebrows shot up and she let out a startled laugh. Peyton laughed a little too before continuing.

"I told him I could go to the art school there and we could be a family. And he said yes. But then the next morning I woke up and something was wrong with him. He told me I had been talking in my sleep. And that I had said, "I love you, Lucas," while he had been taking care of Jenny during the night. Then he told me I had to go home and follow my heart. If we were meant to be then he would still be there waiting for me if I came back."

"So you came back here and told me right away because we were best friends and you wanted to be honest with me. And I slapped you and told you our friendship was over. God, I was such a bitch." Brooke shook her head with an annoyed look on her face.

Peyton looked at the other woman in surprise. "What?"

Brooke shrugged. "Please. I got over Lucas a long time ago. I've had years to think about the entire thing. When you told me, you were being a good friend. You never said you were going to go after him or anything like that and I still freaked out. On you and him. I was scared of losing him. And of losing you. I never should have acted the way I did. I already knew things were different between us. That they weren't okay. I don't think they had ever really been okay. And they'd only been getting worse with the shooting and Keith and Chris Keller. When I said I didn't miss him anymore, I meant it. But at the time I was stubborn and scared. And I was wrong. I knew how much you liked him at the beginning. I could see it in your eyes at the party and that night at his house. But I listened to you when you said you were fine with it even though I knew you well enough to know you were lying. That you were doing it for me. I was lying to myself all that time I tried to convince myself that you two weren't meant to be together."

Peyton just stared at Brooke for a minute. "I don't think you realize what a good person you are, Brooke Davis. Or how much you've grown since we were in high school. You're sitting here basically saying it's your own fault you got cheated on and apologizing to me." She smiled gently. "You know Lucas was right when he said you were going to change the world. You changed mine a long time ago."

Brooke looked away, embarrassed. "Don't get all mushy on me now." The blond didn't answer but instead turned her attention elsewhere. They both watched Sawyer run around with her little basketball. Brooke let her hand rest on her stomach and smiled a little bit.

"You know, we've both come pretty far, P. Sawyer."

"Yes, we have B. Davis."

They just sat in silence watching the little girl bounce the ball on the floor. The group standing in the middle of the gym watched her too. None of them knew what to say after everything they had just heard. Eventually, Sawyer got bored with her ball and started looking around the gym for something new to entertain her. Her eyes settled on Lucas and a wide smile broke out on her face.

"Dada!"


	4. Chapter 3

**Sorry it's taken me so long to update! Things have been crazy lately. Anyway, here's the next chapter. I don't own anything obviously. Hope you enjoy and don't forget to review.**

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"Dada!" Sawyer pointed at Lucas, who just widened his eyes.

"What do I do?," he said at the same time as Nathan said, "I thought they couldn't see us?"

Lucas looked from his mom to Peyton. The girl took another step toward him and held her arms out to him.

"Up!"

Lucas opened his mouth but nothing came out.

The Peyton on the bleachers stood up with a confused look on her face. She glanced at Brooke who was equally confused before saying, "Sawyer? Come here, baby. Daddy's not here yet."

Sawyer didn't even glance back towards her mother. She continued to step towards Lucas. He looked back at his mother and Peyton again before repeating, "What do I do?" Still no one answered him.

"Pick her up?" Lucas looked at Haley like she was crazy.

"Are you kidding me? They'll think she's floating in midair. Do you know how freaked out they'll be?"

Brooke had stood up and Peyton had started walking over to get Sawyer but before she could reach her, the little girl threw her arms around Lucas' leg and yelled, "Dada!"

All of the sudden, the older Peyton and Brooke could see Lucas. Peyton let out a shriek and put her hand over her mouth. Both of their eyes widened.

"Oh. My. God." They both stared at the boy before them. "This is not real." Peyton nodded her head at Brooke's statement. She then shook her head as if to clear it and looked at her daughter still hanging on Lucas' leg. She quickly walked towards them and stopped a couple inches away.

"What the hell was that?"

He looked at her with wide eyes. "I don't...I'm not...I mean I'm not your...Uh."

Peyton raised her eyebrow. She knew this boy wasn't her husband. She took in his uniform. He had no KS patch on so this was before Keith had died. Seeing from the look he was giving her, probably junior year. Right after he had been put on the team but before they had become friends. Before they began to get comfortable around each other. The more she looked at him, the more she convinced herself that this entire thing was a dream.

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

She inclined her head slightly and tried to think of something else to say to him. She jumped when she felt Brooke touch her shoulder.

"Peyton, you don't think this is real do you?"

"No. Dream." She looked at her friend. "Right?"

At that moment she realized that Sawyer was no longer standing in between her and Lucas. She had wandered away and was looking between the Brooke besides her and something Peyton obviously couldn't see. The girl hesitated a minute before reaching out to touch whatever the invisible thing was. With that, a younger version of Brooke in her cheerleading uniform popped into view.

"Holy shit."

Peyton, not knowing what else to say, tilted her head at Brooke. "Not in front of the baby, Brooke. She's been repeating everything we say right now."

Brooke rolled her eyes and muttered to herself, "Like she isn't going to learn it anyway." She then turned her attention to her younger self and looked her up and down.

"Did I really think my hair looked good?"

"Hey!"

Brooke just shook her head. Peyton looked at her, confused. "What? I don't have patience for mini-me right now. Didn't we just have this discussion about how annoying I was?" She then turned to herself again and said, "Hey, kid. Want some advice?" She didn't give herself time to answer but instead continued, "Try not to be such a bitch. And try not to spend so much time with you're clothes off. It'll really come back to bite you in the ass later on. Oh, and when you meet Chris Keller...don't sleep with him."

Peyton cut in, "Brooke. Stop talking to yourself. Really. It's weird to watch. Plus, mini-you has her cat fight face on and Lucas over here, I think, is in shock. "

Lucas shook his head at her. "No, I'm not. I'm just trying to figure out what could possibly have happened between now and your time that leads to us getting married. And having a baby." By the time he finishes saying this he has a little grin on his face.

Peyton raised her eyebrow at him. She knew how enamored he had been with her before they had even met and she thought it was funny seeing him so uncomfortable around her. "Well, the baby was an accident. The getting married was...a three year drama that we all really could have lived with out." She looked at Sawyer and said, "Hey. Anybody else you want to bring into this little conversation?"

The baby just grinned widely and reached out to touch young Peyton. As soon as she appeared, the older version just sighed and said to herself, "That was meant to be a rhetorical question."

"How many more of you are there, anyway?"

Everybody, seen and unseen, turned their attention to Brooke but no one answered.

The new arrivals looked at each other and young Brooke said to Peyton, "So much for Hos over bros, huh?"

Her older counterpart didn't even give the other girl a chance to answer. "Hey, Peyton. Do you wanna know what's worse than the two of us fighting over one guy?" She cut in before Peyton could open her mouth. "Four of us fighting over him."

Lucas held up his hands. "Wait wait. I'm still stuck on the fact that we're married." He gestured between himself and the newly arrived Peyton who was standing right next to him. If she wanted to be honest, she couldn't believe it either. Sure, she was maybe sort of starting to like him, but she was with Nathan and she had never really been with anyone else before him.

Sawyer was slowly making her way towards Karen at this point but Brooke picked her up before she had a chance to make contact. "No way, little Scott. We don't need any more blasts from the past right now." The little girl squirmed but let herself be carried closer to her mother.

Peyton lifted the baby out of Brooke's arm and bounced her a little bit on her hip. She couldn't believe this was happening. She tried to imagine what she would have said if this had happened to her eight years ago. Then she looked at her cheerleader self and saw exactly what she would have done. The girl was just standing her with one eyebrow raised and her arms crossed. She obviously wasn't dealing well with this entire situation.

They all turned when they heard the long back of the gym door. Peyton and Brooke both let out a sigh of relief when they saw Nathan, Haley and Lucas walking through the door. Right after them, a boy and a girl ran in laughing about something.

"Where are they?"

Lucas glanced at his brother before saying, "I don't know. Peyton said she was in the gym and that Brooke was supposed to be here any minute. I don't know where they could have gone."

Her quickly surveyed the area, his eyes going right over where Brooke and Peyton were standing, while the kids continued running around.

"Jamie. Lily. Be careful, okay?"

"Okay, mom," Jamie answered before turning towards Lily. "Wanna play HORSE?"

She nodded and they ran to get a ball from the nearby ball rack.

Peyton and Brooke exchanged looks and sighed at the same time.

"So now they can't see us either?"

Peyton shrugged her shoulders. This all felt so surreal yet at the same time it was more realistic than any other dream she had ever had. She didn't know what to make of the three people standing next to them and she honestly didn't want to revisit a time where she was anything but happy with her life.

Lucas had pulled his cell phone out and now had it up to his ear. "Peyton's not answering. I'll try Brooke next."

"Maybe they just went to get something? Or they went looking for you?" Lucas nodded absently at Haley and snapped his phone shut. Neither of the women had picked up when he called but Haley was probably right.

"Do you know how you got here?" Peyton directed her question to the three teenagers.

They looked at each other until Brooke said, "Not at all. One minute we were at the game and then everything got weird and dark and not the same."

Lucas added, "We were in the gym and there was a boy and girl there. Actually those two. Lily and Jamie, right? Only they were older. Closer to our age."

The older women made eye contact and Peyton said, "Guess that means Karen and Andy are back for good."

"Well that's good. Jamie loves it when she's around. Obviously."

Lucas was over with the kids. Instead of playing HORSE, thy were playing the two of them versus Luke. They were all laughing as Lucas picked Lily up and spun her around, making her drop the ball. Jamie yelled out something about that being cheating and ran away laughing when Lucas came after him next.

Nathan and Haley were sitting on the bleachers not far from where everyone else was standing. They, too, were watching the scene in front of them with smiles on their faces.

"I want to have another baby."

Nathan's eyes widened as he stared at his wife. "What?"

Haley grinned at him. "What? We want a big family. We've been putting it off for years. It's never been the right time but I've been thinking about it and I think it's what we should do."

Nathan put his hand over hers and said, "Hales, are you sure? I mean with everything that's gone on the past couple of years with my dad and Renee and your mom... Are you sure it's a good time?"

Haley just smiled again and rolled her eyes a little bit. "Nathan, if we keep waiting for it to be the perfect time, Jamie's going to grow up an only child. Things are always going to be hectic with our lives. Between our families and our careers and everything else, our lives were never going to be normal. But we always wanted more kids and Jamie's going to be 8 soon. I mean look at Sawyer. She's already 2 and I feel like she was just born last week. And I just want to have a little baby again. Do you remember how amazing it was watching him learn how to do everything? I want that feeling again."

Nathan sighed and grinned as he looked away.

"Plus, it's a really good time with Lucas and Peyton and Karen and Andy just moving back to town."

"Hold on. WE got married? When does that happen?" Everyone turned their attention to Haley. "I don't even like you. Actually, I really dislike you for everything you've put Lucas through and I can't believe that one day I would actually marry you."

Nathan looked down at her and wrinkled his forehead but before he could say anything, Lucas cut in, "Maybe he changes."

The older versions of Peyton and Brooke both turned to look at him and say at the same time, "What?"

He just shakes his head and says, "I was talking to Haley."

The women look at each other and Peyton said, "How many of you are there, exactly?"

Lucas shifts uncomfortably. "Me, Brooke, Peyton, Haley, Nathan, my mom, Keith, Skillz, Mouth, Deb, Whitey, Dan and Jake."

The two women exchanged looks again. "Just keeps getting freakier. It feels like a different lifetime. I mean look at them," Brooke nodded her head towards the teenagers, "and then look at us." She gestured between herself and Peyton, who just stared at her friend. Peyton shrugged her shoulders, not getting what Brooke was trying to say.

"They're basically strangers. They barely know each other. You're all guarded and I'm all skanky. I'm sure Haley wore that horrible poncho at some point this week and Nathan's a major tool. And you know Dan's a little less evil and Deb's a lot less crazy." She turned to the group and said, "The next two years are going to turn their lives upside down. Completely." She turned back to Peyton. "You're married. Tell me that when you were that age you thought you were going to get married. I remember you saying to me that you never wanted to get married. And I'm pregnant. I used to hate kids and now here I am. Pregnant. And Nathan and Haley want to have another baby! I mean not that that's a bad thing. It's just so..." She trailed off at the end of her outburst. "It's just so weird to think about how much changed for us since then. Everything that's happened."

Peyton looked at Brooke at the end of her rant. "Feel better?"

Brooke nodded her head. "Yeah, actually. Just wanted to make sure we all realize exactly how crazy this all is."

They fell into a slightly awkward silence. Eventually, all of their eyes turned back to Lucas and the kids. Lily and Jamie were actually doing pretty well against him. He went to shoot the ball when Jamie jumped up and knocked it out of his hands. Lily tilted her head back and laughed, causing everyone to smile.

"You're really losing it, huh, Luke?"

Lucas turned and glared at Nathan. "Well, I could still kick your ass, little brother."

Nathan laughed and said, "Let's see about that." He stood up as the kids cheered and raced towards the bleachers to watch.

"Little brother?" Nathan's forehead was wrinkled in confusion.

Brooke noticed that Lucas was looking at someone she couldn't see with a confused look on his face. "What's wrong?"

Lucas turned back and asked, "Little brother?"

"Yep. You two crazy kids manage to work out all your differences. It seems you have more in common than you both thought." Brooke said to him.

"Like what," questioned Nathan with a disbelieving look on his face.

"Like what?" echoed Lucas.

"Let's see. Peyton. Haley. Basketball. Your dad. I think you tried to work it out for Haley but it was really your dad that brought you two together."

Lucas gave her an incredulous look. The two men are playing on the court, laughing more then they were really trying. Haley runs her hand through Jamie's hair on the bleacher and smiles softly.

Young Peyton just looks at the scene around her. She was beginning to think she had finally went crazy.

"You know, It's sort of annoying that they're not worried at all about where we are."

With Peyton's words, Lucas stops grabs the ball from Nathan and holds it in his hands. "I'm getting sort of worried about the girls. Peyton said they were here and she's not picking up her cell. "

Brooke looked at her best friend and said, "You two have a freaky connection." Peyton just grinned at her and shifted Sawyer to her other hip.

Suddenly, they felt the air around them change again. "God, here we go again." Peyton grimaced at Brooke's statement and looked at Lucas. He looked just as thrilled as she was about whatever was coming next. She went to look over at herself and realized she wasn't there anymore. The older girls and Sawyer were gone. When she looked behind her and towards the bleachers, she saw that they had all disappeared. It was just their original group standing in the middle of the gym again. Until it wasn't.

"Look."

On the bleachers sat Lily, the same age as the first two times they had seen her, and Peyton, who was obviously older than she had been the last time but still pretty much looked the same. Lily was leaning forward with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. Peyton was leaning back on her elbows and looking at the younger girl. They weren't talking.

"Why aren't they saying anything?" questioned Haley.

"I think something's wrong with the girl," answered Jake.

"This entire thing is ridiculous and I can't believe I'm actually going along with it."

Deb and Karen looked at each other and rolled their eyes at Dan's statement.

"Because we really asked for this, Dad."

Dan glared at Nathan before looking around. There had to be something they could do. He wasn't going to delude himself into thinking this was a dream like the rest of them. It was obviously some kind of scene set up to mess with their minds. He wouldn't be surprised if they were all in on it too.

Keith said, "I think we should just go along with it. I mean if it's a dream then one of us is pretty conflicted about something right? And if it's not...then maybe it's happening for a reason."

Karen nodded in agreement and a moment later Lucas did the same. Peyton and Brooke exchanged glances while Haley nodded after seeing Lucas. Nathan just sighed and shook his head a little bit. Mouth and Skillz nodded at each other and Whitey grinned. And he had thought that today was going to be like any other game day.

Jake thought back over what they had heard today. He looked at Peyton and wondered if they really got together. It seemed like it would be too hard with Jenny and Niki. But when she had talked about Jenny, Jake had been able to to tell that she had loved the little girl and nothing had changed despite whatever had gone on between the two of them. He started to worry a little bit about leaving Jenny with her mother during the Bear Creek game the coming week. He wasn't completely sure he could trust her with the newborn.

He was pulled from his thoughts at the sound of Deb and Dan arguing. He wanted to leave and try to figure out if there was anything they could do while Deb agreed with everyone else in that they should stay and let things work themselves out. Karen was quick to side with Deb even though they barely knew each other and, of course, Keith jumped in too.

Nathan and Lucas looked at each other uncomfortably. They didn't know if they were friends or enemies or brothers. It seemed like a little bit of both at the moment. They watched their parents fight and in that moment they both hated Dan and all of the issues he brought with him.

Whitey held his hand up. "Will all of you shut the hell up and pay attention. The girl's gonna talk."

They all turned their attention back to the women on the bleachers. Lily had pulled her head up and was looking straight ahead. All of the sudden, she turned to look at Peyton and opened her mouth to speak.


	5. Chapter 4

**I hope you all like this chapter and it would be awesome if you could review and give me some feedback. Thanks, everyone who already has. Enjoy!**

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Lily opened her mouth to say something to Peyton but then shut it again. She didn't know if telling her sister-in-law was the best idea. But she had to talk to someone. With everything that had been going on with her lately, she was starting be majorly PMS-pretty much all of the time. She knew Jamie could tell something up and she was hurting him by not confiding in him.

"Okay, listen. Here's the deal. What we talk about in here you can't tell anyone. Not Jamie. Not Lucas. No one. Promise?"

Peyton cocked her eyebrow and just nodded her head.

Lily sighed. "Okay, so you know the game two weeks ago? The one when you had to convince Haley to let Jamie throw a party afterwards at the beach house? You said that you guys used to do it all the time and nothing that bad ever happened. And then she rolled her eyes and was all like "Oh, yeah, nothing bad happened. Except my husband lost his virginity to my sister at one of those parties. And I seem to remember you getting into a cat fight with a certain ex of Jake Jagielski. And then a certain sex tape. not mentioning any names. The making of and the first showing were both at these parties. " And then you cut her off and just told her to relax cause we were smarter then you guys were at that age?" She looked at Peyton whose eyebrows were raised.

"Yeah...?" Peyton drew the word out and kept staring at Lily. Lily wasn't usually one for long rants.

"Well, it turns out we might not be that much smarter than you guys were. Or at least I'm not." Lily looked away from the blond and towards the empty gym floor.

Peyton leaned forward and tilted her head to try and see around the curtain of hair blocking Lily's face.

"I might have sort of, accidentally gotten really, really drunk and...slept with Chuck Scolnik."

Peyton felt her mouth drop open. She shook her head trying to think of something to say. "Oh, no. You're not pregnant, right?"

Lily snapped her head towards Peyton. "Ew, god, no. At least I don't think so. I...he used...we were careful." She turned her head so Peyton couldn't look her in the eye.

Peyton closed her mouth and just looked at Lily.

"Are you okay?"

Lily shrugged. "Yeah, I'm not, you know, scarred about it or anything. He didn't force me or anything like that. It's just...it's Chuck. I mean, really? I have no idea what was going through my mind that made me think that was a good idea. We were both sitting on the stairs wasted and I said I was tired and he said he was too so I asked him if he wanted to go find somewhere to sleep so we went upstairs to one of the spare bedrooms and laid down but neither of us could fall asleep and then...it just happened. I don't remember a lot about it but I know he asked me if I was sure and I just kept telling him I wanted to get it over with. I don't know if I meant in general or just with him or both. And then when it was over I went to the bathroom and threw up four times and slept on the floor next to the toilet. Jamie found me the next morning and by then Chuck was already gone. And it's been weird ever since. Really weird."

Peyton nodded but before she had a chance to say anything, Lily cut in again.

"I feel so stupid. It's not at all what it was supposed to be. And that disappoints me a little but I'm more upset about what people are going to think if they find out. I'm never irresponsible and I can't believe I let myself do it. Especially with Chuck. Jamie's going to freak out when he finds out. If he finds out. I know we're best friends and all but I'm not sure telling him is a good idea. I love him and I don't know what I would do if he went to jail for killing Chuck." She laughed a little to show she was joking before continuing, "And I feel bad for Chuck, too. I know he feels guilty. I can tell from the way he's acting around me. And every time Jamie walks into the same room he's in, Chuck looks like he's ready to make a run for it."

Peyton nodded again and paused to see if she was going to keep going. When she didn't, the older girl began talking. "You know, I lost my virginity at one of those parties too. When I was just a little bit younger than you."

"Do you regret it?"

Peyton shook her head. "No. Not really. I might have a little bit then but at the time I thought it was the right thing to do. Plus, Nathan could be very persuasive when he wanted to be." She muttered the last sentence to herself.

Lily looked at her sharply. "But at least you two were going out. Chuck and I aren't. You know I'm not that type of girl. It was just so sudden. It's not that I don't like Chuck but we've never been close either."

"Just because Nathan and I were going out doesn't make it that much different."

Lily looked at her questioningly.

"I know Nathan's great now. He's one of my closest friends, obviously, and such an amazing person. I can't even imagine my life without him in it, but back then he was pretty much a dick. He was controlling and manipulative and basically just a jackass."

"Then why'd you go out with him?"

Peyton shrugged. "He wasn't always like that. He was sweet at the beginning. And he was my first boyfriend. Pretty much my first everything. And he put up with all of my crap. As Brooke likes to put it, I used to be pretty whiny and depressing. But he didn't care. Not at first, anyway."

"So, what made you decide to sleep with him?"

Peyton hesistated. "I don't know. I was drunk and bored and there was an empty bedroom? And when we had first started going out, he had always been really polite and all, but after awhile we couldn't be alone without him sticking his hands up my shirt or down my pants. I guess I was just sick of telling him no."

Lily nodded again. "So what made you two break up?"

Peyton smiled a little. "He really was an ass. He never wanted to do anything besides have sex and he always criticized the things I liked to do. Which was basically sit in front of my webcam listening to music and drawing but still. I didn't like the way he treated people. Especially your brother. Plus I sort of had the hots for Luke from the beginning. So eventually, the fighting just got too bad and I told him we were over. For good."

Lily thought for a minute before saying, "You know, sometimes I wish I could have met you guys back them."

Peyton grinned and sat back. "No, you don't. I really wasn't good company and Brooke was pretty much a bitch to people who didn't know her and you know how Nathan was."

Lily returned the smile and shook her head slightly. "It's good seeing that all of this will pass, though. The drama of high school and everything that goes with it."

Peyton let out a laugh. "Oh, noooo." She drew out the last word. "I mean, yeah it's all going to blow over but only to make way for new drama. Even after high school, there's going to be drama. And it's only going to get worse. People forgot about me and Nathan because then there was Nathan and Haley and me and Lucas. And then eventually people stopped talking about that because of Lucas and Brooke. It's a never ending cycle that you will never be able to escape."

Lily bit her lip and replied, "Thanks. That makes me feel so much better." She stopped and then said, "I'm just really hoping no one finds out. Ever." She squeezed her eyes shut and rested her head on her hands. "I'm so stupid."

"Can I ask you something else?"

The younger girl nodded n response.

Peyton said, "You've been acting weird since before that party. What else is going on with you?"

Lily glanced back and just nodded her head.

"I've been thinking about my dad a lot lately. I want you to tell me about him."

Peyton shook her head slightly and leaned forward again. "Honey, I didn't know him that well. I mean he was around but he died before Lucas and I got together. You should probably ask Haley or Mouth or Skillz. They would know more because they pretty much grew up around him."

"I know that but I don't want to talk about it with anyone else. You're the only person I know that...lost a parent anywhere near as young as I was. I wasn't even born yet but you were eight, which is closer than most other people."

Peyton sighed and looked away. Lily waited for her to say something.

"Look, Lily. I know you think I can help you with this but I'm not sure I can. I really didn't deal with it that well back then. It took me years to come to terms with and I don't know that there's anything anyone could have said to me then to make it better. I can tell just from watching you that you're a lot stronger than I was then."

"I know all that. Except the part about me being stronger. You know Luke has always insisted that you're the strongest person he's ever known. And I think he's right. I look at you and I think that if you can be here and so happy after that then eventually things will feel better to me too. Even if it did take you years to figure out. I mean how did you get through it? Your mom dying and your dad always being gone?"

Peyton didn't even hesitate in answering this question. "Brooke. I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for Brooke. She was the one who was with my constantly afterwards. She made sure I was never alone and she was always taking care of me and trying to help me. I don't know what I would be like if she hadn't been there."

Lily accepted this. She knew what it was like the be the weaker of two best friends. She had been for years.

"I miss him. I never even got the chance to meet him and he was gone. He never even knew about me."

Peyton smiled gently. "Lily, even if I didn't know your dad that well, I know he would have loved you with everything he had. And wherever he is now, I know he's with you and watching over you. There hasn't been a moment in your life that he's left you."

"How can you be so sure about all of this?"

Peyton shrugged softly. "I've had years to come to terms with it. That's why I still go to my mom's grave and talk to her. Even if she can't talk back, I know she's listening. I don't think the people that love us are ever really gone."

Lily nodded and sat back so she was in a position similar to Peyton's. They sat in silence for a minute.

"I thought I felt him a couple of weeks ago." When she saw the puzzled look on Peyton's face, Lily elaborated, "My dad. Me and Jamie were in here playing around in here and I swear I felt him. It was like I knew that in that moment he was with me more than he ever had been before. I have no idea what made it happen, but I know I'm right."

Peyton nodded her head and Lily looked at her in surprise. "You don't think I'm crazy?"

Peyton just shook her head. "Of course not. I believe you. If you say that you felt him, then I think you did."

Lily smiled at Peyton gratefully. She felt like she was dangerously close to tears and she was desperate not to cry. Peyton noticed but decided not to say anything. She picked the younger girl's hand up and squeezed it. Lily glanced at her gratefully and squeezed back.

"You know, I knew talking to you was the right choice. There isn't anyone else that would understand me as well as you."

Peyton laughed. "Why do you say that?"

Lily shrugged. She was a little embarrassed to tell the truth.

"I remember when we were younger, around eight or nine, I was over Jamie's house with Andre and Chuck and both of them ganged up on me about something. I don't remember what it was but Jamie went to defend me and I stood up, walked in front of him and just pushed both of them over. I will never forget the look on their faces when they hit the ground. I guess they weren't expecting a girl to be so strong or whatever. But anyway, Brooke had seen the whole thing and when she walked over to us I thought she was going to yell at me. But instead she tried not to smile and sort of muttered, "More and more like P. Sawyer every day." And then she glared at the boys and walked back out of the room. And you've been my favorite ever since."

"Your favorite?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Growing up we all had our favorites. Jamie's was always Brooke and mine was you. Sawyer's is Brooke. Even people not in our family have favorites. Like Andre will hang onto every word Haley says and Chuck is pretty much amazed by Nathan."

Peyton let out an astonished laugh. "I never knew you guys had favorites."

Lily started laughing too. "Well, not really favorite favorites. More like the people we connect with best. Or who we know we can always go to to talk no matter what. For the times when we don't think our parents will understand for whatever reason. Didn't you have someone like that growing up?"

Peyton shook her head. "No, not really. But now that you say that I see what you mean. Luke's would have been Keith and Haley's was Karen." Lily became serious again at the mention of her parents but Peyton didn't notice. "Nathan's definitely would have been Uncle Cooper. Actually, after we met her, I guess you could say Karen was mine and Brooke's, too."

Lily smiled. Her mom was pretty awesome. She knew that but she still didn't like talking about her dad to the woman. She could tell how much it upset her. She wrinkled her forehead a little and tilted her head. She did believe what Peyton had said about the dead staying around to take care of the people they left behind. And for whatever reason, her father had been in this very gym just a couple of weeks before. She smiled again. She was going to be okay. Even if she did have her depressing days where she just wanted to sit in her room and play guitar all day. Jamie would never let her get lost in her mind. He would always be there to help her when she needed him. And even when she thought she didn't need him. Which meant that she was going to have to tell him about Chuck. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she didn't. They had never kept anything from each other before and she wasn't going to start now.

"Helloooo. Earth to Lily." Lily snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Peyton. She shook her head as if to clear it and smiled.

"Sorry. I was just thinking. I have to tell Jamie about Chuck. It doesn't feel right keeping it a secret from him."

Peyton nodded her head. "As someone whose made the mistake of keeping secrets from my best friend, I think you're right."

Lily let her head fall back and moaned. "I'm already dreading it though. He's going to be beyond pissed."

Peyton nodded. "Yeah, but he'll get over it. You guys are best friends and cousins and he loves you. This won't change that."

Lily nodded reluctantly. "I know."

They sat for another minute in silence before Peyton said, "Come on, we'd better get going. People are going to be wondering where we disappeared to." She leaned over and wrapped her arm around Lily. She pulled the girl close to her so that their heads were touching. "And just remember, everything is going to be okay. I promise. And I will always be here if you need me. For anything. Okay?"

Lily grinned and nodded. "I've known that for years and I love you for it."

"I love you, too. Now stop being all sentimental and get a move on." Peyton stood up and held her hand out to the younger girl. Lily took it and pulled herself up. She couldn't help but roll her eyes and grin at Peyton's southern accent. It came out at the most random times. Before they went to climb down the bleachers, Lily turned.

"Oh, there is one thing I forgot to tell you."

Peyton looked her her expectantly.

"We got this new girl in school. She's the year above us. I think Jamie likes her or something. She's really pretty but don't tell him I said that. She got this great red hair and an awesome body and really pretty eyes. I don't trust her. I think she likes him back. I know I've never been a fan of Madison and Jamie being together but this girl is just..." Lily trailed off.

Peyton grinned and had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. She was just like Lucas had been about Haley and how Haley had been about him in return. Always trying to protect each other.

Lily had kept talking about the new girl and how she was apparently one of those fake nice girls. As they walked down the bleachers and onto the gym floor, she held a hand up in front of Lily. "Okay, but why are you telling all of this to me?"

Lily said, "Because I think you know her. Jenny Jagielski? I read the book. I know you had a thing for that Jake Jagielski kid. The one with the baby... named Jenny... The ages lines up. Plus you don't hear a name like that all that often. I think it's her and I just wanted to give you a heads up before you saw him walking around town somewhere."

Peyton had stopped in her tracks as soon as Lily had said the name Jenny Jagielski. They were back? She couldn't believe it. She hadn't heard from him in years and now all of the sudden he was back. She shook her head in disbelief.

"Peyton? Are you okay?"

Peyton looked at Lily but didn't answer.

"I have to see him."

As soon as she said that, the other people in the gym felt the shift in the air that they were coming to dread. They braced themselves for whatever was coming next but they were alone. After a couple of minutes Skillz broke the silence.

"This is gettin' ridiculous, man."

The tension of the group broke and Mouth smiled. "I agree."

"Did you hear what she said? I'm both of your kids favorite." Brooke grinned at Haley and Peyton. She was getting more and more used to the idea of kids and nieces and nephews. It surprisingly wasn't bothering her as much as she thought it would have. She couldn't wait to spoil the crap out of all of them.

Haley rolled her eyes while Peyton tried to bite back a smile. They were both getting more and more used to the idea, too, even though neither of them was ready to admit it.

"Whose kid is she? Lily, I mean." Everyone looked at Lucas but no one had an answer for him. "I mean she's the same age as Jamie who we already know you guys have when you're seventeen. Which is next year. So whose is she?"

Nathan shook his head. "Can't she just be someone he met in school?"

"Ooo! Maybe they secretly have a thing for each other and that's why she's so scared about telling him she gave it up to that Chuck kid."

Peyton shook her head at Brooke's statement. "I don't think so. I think they're like you two." She gestured between Haley and Lucas. "It seems like they're closer to being siblings than anything else."

Haley turned to Nathan. "She definitely said something about them being related, didn't she?"

He shook his head and said, "I can't remember."

She shrugged and replied, "I think they could be. They seem really close and it's obvious that they love each other. Plus, I would be scared to have to have that talk with you." She nodded at Lucas who turned to glare at Nathan. The taller boy held up his hands and shook his head.

"Hey, I didn't do anything. I have no idea what happens."

"Yeah, not yet anyway."

Karen stepped forward before they could go any further. "Okay, both of you stop it right now. We don't need to listen to you two fight about things that haven't even happened yet. I'm sure we're all going to hear about it when we get there. For now, I think we should just concentrate on figuring out what's going on."

Dan drew in a breathe and stood up straight. "That would be a great plan if anyone here had any idea what the hell was causing all of this. Or any idea of how to figure it out."

Deb rolled her eyes and Keith stepped forward closer to Karen before she could retort. "I don't think any of us should be fighting. You're both right. As for the girl, I think I know who she is."

This caught everyone's attention. They waited expectantly but Keith didn't continue right away. He wasn't completely sure and he wasn't know how they would react.

"Are you going to share this revelation with us, Boozy?"

Keith shot his brother a look and continued, "I think she's mine." Before anyone could jump in he said, "It makes sense. She felt something when she stood where I was before and Peyton, the other one, told her to talk to Haley or Mouth or Skillz about her father. And I'm the only one all three of them know really well. I did watch all of them grow up."

Lucas shook his head. "But that would mean that you were going to die. Sometime next year. Because she said her father was gone before he could even find out about her. "

Karen nodded. "Plus, why wouldn't Peyton have told her to talk to Lucas. You're closer with him than any of the others. It doesn't make sense."

Keith shook his head. He knew that she was his. He didn't need proof.

"I know all of that but it's true." Seeing the look on Karen's face he walked closer to her. "Please don't be upset. Everything is going to work out."

"How? How is it going to work out if you're dead?"

Keith turned to Lucas but kept his hand on Karen's arm. He could see his nephew struggling with this new information. "Luke..."

Lucas shook his head. "No. Don't! You're not going to die. Maybe that's why all of this is happening. So we can stop you from dying."

"From being murdered." Everyone stared at Dan. "What? She said something about a shooting. That's how you're going to die."

No one said anything after this blunt statement. Karen put her hand up in front of her mouth and Haley blinked back tears. Lucas just shook his head and looked away. Keith was feeling oddly peaceful. He didn't want to die, but if he was leaving behind a beautiful daughter that made it that much better. He knew he would never get to see her be born and grow up, but at least he got to see her when she was almost an adult. And even if she was upset over him, she was happy. He could tell that just from looking at her.

"Whose her mother?" Lucas asked this angrily. He had always figured his mom and Keith would end up married. He couldn't believe he was hearing that his uncle was going to have a baby with another woman and then die before she could even be born.

Keith just shrugged. He also knew that this girl was Karen's. He could see it in her face. She looked so much like the girl he had met in high school who was so infatuated with his little brother. He remembered her telling him she was pregnant and saw the strength she had then in Lily. When he had first seen her, she had instantly reminded him of the girl he had fallen in love with years before. He didn't want to say that though, because he could already see how upset Karen and Lucas were.

"Yeah, big brother. Who did you manage to knock up?"

Keith just shook his head and laughed. Dan's attitude had always gotten worse when he was anxious about something. He'd been like that since they were children. He smiled again when he thought of how Dan would react to find out the mother of one of his children was going to have a baby with his big brother. Even though he had abandoned her, Keith knew Dan still felt like she belonged to him and was jealous of the relationship they had. Even if they were only friends for now.

Deb said, "Shut up, Dan. Now isn't the time." She could see Karen struggling to pull herself together and Haley was standing next to Lucas with her head on his shoulder. They were all just looking at Keith. Mouth and Skillz were both staring at him too with frowns on their faces. Whitey, who had stayed silent this entire time, was doing the same. Keith had always been one of his favorites, even after he had quit the team.

"Stop looking at me like that. I'm going to die. But not now. I don't need you all to start mourning my death before it even happens."

Still no one said anything. That is until a certain blond girl they all recognized came marching through the gym doors.


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey, guys. Sorry it's taking me so long to update. I've been busy with school and I had a major case of writer's block lately. Anyway, hope you like it.**

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The gym lights were only half on. Behind them, the room was lighter while the direction the girl was walking from was dimly lit. She had straight pale blond hair that reached just above her shoulders and a determined look on her face. She was wearing a short jean skirt and a white beater underneath a dark purple tank top. Her heels clicked against the floor as she kept walking.

"Who is she?" Dan asked the question that was obvious to most of them.

"Sawyer!" He got his answer as a young boy ran into the gym after her. He had on jeans and a green button up shirt with a white t-shirt on underneath. He had to keep flipping his straight dark hair out of his face. He was struggling to get his backpack all the way on and not drop the basketball in his hand. It slipped but he lunged forward and caught it before it could hit the ground. In the process, his backpack slipped and fell to swing on the crook of his elbow.

"Sawyer, wait up! Can you slow down a little?"

She continued walking across the gym acting as though she couldn't hear him. Lucas raised his eyebrows. "That's Sawyer?" This girl was a far cry from the baby they had seen not that long ago.

"Looks like she grew up good." Lucas just nodded at Brooke's statement.

The boy stopped briefly to pull the backpack all the way on and tucked the ball under his arm. He then picked up speed to reach Sawyer. He finally caught up when she was almost halfway across the court. He grabbed her arm and pulled her around to face him.

"Hey, what's your problem?"

She yanked her arm out of his grasp and stepped back. "Let go of me. I don't have a problem." She crossed her arms and looked down at the floor.

"What is wrong with you? You've been acting weird all week."

Sawyer shook her head. "No, I haven't. Just because I haven't been hanging on your every word doesn't mean there's something wrong with me. Maybe I'm just sick of listening to your pointless drama."

He lets out a short laugh her statement. "Okay, you obviously have a really bad case of PMS or soemthing. And you think that gives you the right to bitch at everyone and act like we're all annoying and stupid. Whatever. Go take a Midol and chill out."

The girl raised her eyebrows at him. The group could see the look in her eyes go from a little annoyed to extremely pissed off.

"Listen, jackass. I don't have PMS and the next time you tell me to take a Midol I'm going to punch you in your ugly face. Alright?" She took a step closer to him so their faces were close together. With her heels on, she was a little bit taller than him. If she had taken them off, they would have been almost the same height. She paused a minute before spinning around and starting to walk away from him. "Stupid freshmen," she muttered to herself.

"This has something to do with your boyfriend doesn't it?"

Sawyer stopped suddenly but didn't turn around.

"Anna told me all about what you've been up to. She says she can hear his voice through the walls at night but no one's ever there in the morning. And the nights that he's not there you sneak out to go to see him. But you're always back before morning."

He paused to see if he was getting a reaction out of her. When she didn't move, he continued.

"So what? Did he break up with you or something? Did you sleep with him? I bet you just gave it up to him and now he stopped talking to you. Are you upset because you let some tool use you?"

"Shut up!" Sawyer spun around to face him. "Just shut the hell up! You don't know what you're talking about and you have no idea what's going on with me right now. So don't stand there and act so condescending to me. You're just as bad. You want to talk about using people? How about you? And all of the times I walked in on you and some random girl in the library or the computer room or Aunt Haley's room when she was on her lunch break over this past year? Trying to become the biggest man whore of the school before you even finish freshmen year? Should I tell Anna about all those girls and what an asshole you are to them? Because if she knew about that, I can guarantee you, she would never think of you the same again. She would never trust you again. Or how about I just tell her that you're in love with her?"

The boy had opened his mouth to say something to her but closed it at her last statement. He looked away and shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Sawyer laughed bitterly. "What's the matter, Scottie? You can say all that stuff to me but when I go back at you, you get upset? I know you're in love with Anna. I can tell by the way you look at her and the way you talk about her. You're just lucky no one else has noticed. Our parents wouldn't like it very much, would they? You two were basically raised as brother and sister. God knows you've always been the little brother I never had and never wanted. But then something changed this year, didn't it? And now you're in love with my little sister. You might want to think of that next time you want to start with me. Because I can ruin you. And don't think I won't."

They stared at each other for a minute. Neither of them wanted to look away but eventually Sawyer blinked and turned to leave.

"Why do you have to be such a bitch, Sawyer? Everytime you get upset, you push us all away. You freeze us out and act like we all did something to piss you off. Did it ever cross your mind that we might actually be able to help you?"

Sawyer spun around again. "You think you can help me, Scott? You really think you can? Because you don't have the slightest clue what's been going on with me. And you might want to really think about that before you ask me to talk about it to you."

Scott frowned at her, the fight quickly leaving him. "You've always talked to me. Ever since we were kids. But then you started high school and you got weird. You get antsy when they ask you why you've never had a boyfriend. You don't date. Not as far as any of us know, anyway. Then Anna tells me about this guys that you've been sneaking around with. Do you know she's actually worried about you? She doesn't know whether to think you're on drugs or you're pregnant or both. She thinks this guy is hurting you or something. And you've been so caught up in your own world, you haven't even noticed what you're doing to her."

Sawyer shook her head and wrinkled her forehead. "I never...I never meant to worry Anna. I didn't even realize she knew anything." Her face relaxed slightly and she rolled her eyes. "And I'm not on drugs. Or pregnant." When she saw the disbelieving look on Scott's face, she sighed. "I promise." She sighed again and said, "And he's not hurting me."

Scott's eyes widened the slightest bit. "So there really is a guy." He paused to let her deny it then continued when she didn't say anything. "What's his name? When did you meet him? Why haven't you told anyone? How old is he? How long has this been going on?"

Sawyer raised her eyebrows. "SB, shut up." He stopped talking and looked at her expectantly. "If I tell you anything you have to promise not to say a word to anyone else. No one. Not even Anna." He hesitated a minute before nodding.

Sawyer let out a breath and put her hand on her forehead. She closed her eyes and stayed like that for a minute. When she opened them again, the determined look was back on her face. She opened her mouth to talk but before she could say a word, the gym dimmed and seemed to spin around the group watching them. Then they were standing in the gym alone just like they had been before.

"Damn. I really wanted to hear where she was going to go with that story."

"I didn't," muttered Lucas in response to what Brooke had just said. The brunette just rolled her eyes.

"Oh, come on. That's what high school's all about. Drama and sex and lying to your parents. If your parents are around anyway."

Haley replied, "But these are our kids we're talking about. And not only are they keeping things from us but they're hurting too. You can see it in their eyes.

Peyton shrugged. "That's what high school is. It sucks and it hurts and then just when you think it's getting better, it sucks more and it hurts more."

The group thought for a minute about what she said. They realized that whatever bad things had happened to them in the past, it was only going to get worse. Lucas looked at Keith and tried to imagine a life without him. But at the same time, they could also see that maybe there was hope. Peyton looked at Lucas and saw the person that could possibly make it all better. Haley looked at Nathan and thought that maybe she was the one who saw something in Nathan that no one else saw. And who was she to ignore that?

"But who was the other kid?" Everyone looked at Nathan but it was Lucas that answered him.

"He had to be Brooke's. He said they were raised like siblings and obviously none of us would name out kid Scott."

"And you two have another daughter. Anna. I wonder why Anna?" Haley commented.

"That was my mom's name," Peyton said in a tone close to a whisper. Lucas looked at Peyton and found himself wanting to wrap his arms around her. Haley connected Peyton's tone and the past tense in her head and looked at the blond girl sympathetically. Brooke put her hand on Peyton's arm and squeezed it gently. Trying to lighten the mood she said, "Well, I honestly can't see myself naming a kid after any of you freaks."

Peyton laughed. When Lucas saw her smile, he smiled too. Eventually, they all had smiles on their faces.

Karen had been watching the exchange between the five of them. At first, she hadn't been able to believe her son and Nathan would ever be able to get along. Not after all of the problems they'd been having lately. Or the fact that he would marry Peyton Sawyer and become friends with Brooke Davis. She also hadn't been able to believe that Haley would marry someone like Nathan Scott. But the more she watched them together, the more she could see the connections that were beginning to form.

They all heard the door open and turned to see who it would be this time. Just like last time, Sawyer walked into the gym through the doors leading from the locker room. Since all of the lights in the gym were on, they could see her more clearly than before and it was obvious she was younger than the last time they had seen her. Her face was relaxed and she seemed much more likely to smile than yell. Like her mother, it looked like she hadn't started to wear her hair lstraight until she was older. Her blond curls were tight and fell down messily to her shoulders.

Again, like last time, a boy came jogging into the gym after her. This boy wasn't Scott, though. He was tall and had sandy colored hair. It looked as though it couldn't make up it's mind between being curly and straight so it just laid there in a wavy mess. He was wearing khaki shorts and a blue t-shirt.

"Sawyer?"

The girl spun around to look at him confused.

"You're Sawyer Scott, right?"

She wrinkled her forehead at him and nodded hesitantly.

"Your dad's my coach. And I've seen you and your mom and your sister at practice before. I recognized you when I saw you today."

He saw her raise one of her eyebrows and quickly shook his head. "I'm not being creepy. I swear. Your dad mentioned something about his daughter starting freshman year and I just wanted to say hi and let you know if you had any problems learning your way around I could help you."

Her face relaxed again and she nodded. "Oh. Thanks."

They stood there awkwardly for a minute before the boy said, "I'm Nate. In case you were wondering."

Sawyer bit the inside of her lip to keep from smiling. "Who said I was wondering?"

Nate let out a laugh. He should have known this girl wasn't like all of the others. "Well, even if you weren't wondering, I just wanted you to know."

She nodded again and this time smiled at him. She squinted a little bit and said, "What grade are you in?"

"I'm a junior."

Sawyer titled her head. "A junior?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah. I should be a senior but I got held back in kindergarten. Apparently I couldn't get my alphabet straight or something like that."

Sawyer laughed. "Yeah. My parents sent me to pre-school for 2 years so me and my sister would only be two grades apart. I had attachment issues when I was younger."

He laughed at her and they fell into another slightly less awkward silence. She shifted and cleared her throat.

"Well, I should probably--"

"Do you want to--"

They both stopped and laughed. He shook his head and said, "You go."

She shook her head. "No, you." The corners of her mouth turned up as she looked at him.

He said, "I was just going to ask if you wanted to go into town. I could give you some pointers on how to survive high school."

She laughed and hesitated a minute. "I guess so.. I think I probably missed my bus anyway."

"I can take you home afterwards if you want."

She nodded again. "Let me call my mom real quick."

Too soon, the group felt the spinning start and the lights flickered. When they were alone again, everyone looked at each other.

"Guess that's the mystery man," said Brooke. Lucas grunted in response. Peyton was surprised to find that she wanted to grin at the overprotective streak that was already running through Lucas.

Nathan's forehead was creased. "That kid looked sort of familiar."

Jake nodded in agreement. "He definitely did."

"Got to agree with you," said Brooke. Peyton raised her eyebrows. Brooke seemed a little too at ease about this entire situation. It was probably better than her freaking out, though.

The door banged open behind them and they all turned to look once again.

"Oh, god," said Brooke.

Sawyer and Nate stumbled through the gym doors. She had a skirt on and a black tank top. Her hair was loosely curled and hung a little past her shoulders and from what they could see of her, she was somewhere between the ages she had been the last two times. They dropped their bags on the floor and were immediately all over each other. She wrapped her arms around his neck and his hands were running up and down her sides. Their mouths were locked together and it seemed like neither one of them was even taking time to breathe. He was walking backwards while she was blindly following him.

"I really don't want to be seeing this," muttered Lucas.

Nate tripped and almost fell backwards but regained his balance at the last minute. Sawyer threw her head back and laughed. He chuckled too and wrapped his hands around her waist. He took the opportunity to kiss her neck while her head was back. He kept kissing her, trailing down to the spot where her neck met her shoulder. She shuddered involuntarily and laughed again.

She grabbed his face and pulled his head up to kiss her again. They began kissing furiously again and he started to push her backwards. When her back hit the wall she let out a soft, "oof" and felt Nate smile against her mouth. He ran his hands down her side and slipped them under her shirt. She tilted her head back and made a soft noise in her throat. He just grinned again trailed his thumbs down her ribs.

"Stop it!" she squealed. "You know I'm ticklish there!" She unlocked her hands from behind his head and tried to push him away from her. He pulled his hands out from her shirt and placed them on the wall on either side of her head. He just stared into her eyes for a minute and she stared back. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly as she tried to regain her breath.

"I love you." Her eyes widened at this proclamation. He looked at her hesitantly for a minute and she smiled softly.

"Well, that's good. Because I love you." He grinned and put his hands on either side of her face. He gently brushed his lips against hers and started trailing his thumbs up her side again. She pushed his hands away and glared at him.

"If you don't stop tickling me, I'll take it back!"

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh, really?" He captured her mouth with his and wrapped his arms around her. She lifted her arms and placed them around his neck again. He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist. They continued kissing furiously.

"I cannot believe we're watching this right now," muttered Peyton. Lucas mumbled his agreement.

"Yeah, this feels wrong," Haley said.

Brooke laughed. "That girl definitely has some moves. But I think he really does loves her."

The pair was getting increasingly frantic in their kissing. Her shirt had ridden up until her stomach was exposed and Nate had pushed her skirt up. His other arm was holding her up. She was trying to pull his shirt up over his head but was having problems getting around his arms which were touching ever part of her they could. Finally, she gave up and settled for putting her hands on either side of neck. She broke away from his mouth and kissed anywhere on his face she could get at. She made her away across his cheeks and down his jawline until she got to his neck. She sucked gently and he tilted his head back to give her better access. He moaned lightly and she grinned. She nipped at him gently and laughed when he let out a startled, "Ow!"

She pulled back and innocently said, "What?"

"You bit me!" She just shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Oh, stop being such a baby." She went to kiss him again when they both heard a door slam from inside the locker room. The next thing everyone knew, Nate was over near their bags and Sawyer was yanking her shirt down and trying to smooth her hair out. She tugged at her skirt and wiped her mouth. Nate threw her bag to her and she slung it over her right shoulder. He nervously ran his hand through his hair and looked at her. They silently looked at each other to make sure there was no signs of their previous activity. Her eyes widened.

"What?"

"Your neck!" she hissed.

His hand flew up to the red mark that was forming right beneath his jawline.

"It's your fault!" Sawyer raised her eyebrows at him. "You and your fricken hoover mouth." Her mouth dropped open and she let out a startled laugh.

"Well, I didn't hear you complaining then."

"Actually, I did. You know, right after you bit me."

She cocked her eyebrow. "You better watch it, buddy, or you won't be getting lucky for a very long time."

He held up his hands in front of him. "I'm just saying. How am I going to pass this off?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Say you walked into a bar or something."

"A bar?" Nate looked at her incredulously.

"Yeah you know. Like the kind that...sticks out of...stuff?"

He rolled his eyes at her. They paused for a minute. There was no more noise coming from the locker room. They looked at each other.

"Maybe whoever it was just forgot something in their locker."

Nate nodded absently. "Maybe." Then he shook his head. "This was too close of a call. We have to be more careful."

Sawyer bit her lip and nodded in agreement.

"Come on. I'll take you home."

As they walked out of the gym, the people left behind felt the air shift again. When it finally settled, they looked around the gym in surprise. This was going to be interesting.


	7. Chapter 6

**Hey guys. Here's the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy it. I don't own anything, obviously. **

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The group was once again standing in the middle of the gym. Only this time, they weren't alone like they usually were at the beginning. The stands were filled with people talking and cheering as Dan Scott stood next to them with a microphone in his hand. The room was dark except for a single spotlight shining on the man. There was a look of eagerness on his face. Lucas looked at this man who had never really claimed him and couldn't tell if the emotion showing on his face was real or just an appearance he was putting on for the public.

"What is this?" the blond boy questioned.

Nathan, Peyton and Brooke's answers all came at once.

"Midnight madness."

Lucas nods his head in understanding.

"But why are we here?" Lucas looks at his best friend and shrugs. He didn't have the slightest clue what they were doing here, but then again did any of them know why any of this was happening?

The Dan standing slightly away from them had lifted the microphone to his mouth in the meantime and drawn his breathe in to speak.

"Is everybody ready...?" The crowd began to yell at his words. "...for midnight madness!?" The people began screaming louder and waving things in the air. Some even stood up to cheer.

"That's what I'm talking about! The countdown to the start of the season is on! Let me hear ya! 5!" The crowds applause was growing and their excitement could be felt all across the gym. "4! 3!" Dan sped up as he neared the end of his countdown. The crowd was yelling with him. "2! 1!" The noised reached it's peak as Dan yelled into the microphone, "Let the madness begin!"

He quickly made his way to the front sidelines as the cheerleaders made their way through fog that had mysteriously appeared across the gym floor. The group quickly realized they were in the way and started to back up. None of them were sure if they could be touched, but they didn't want someone to have a moment like Lily had earlier.

The crowd yelled in approval as the squad began their routine.

"Oh, my god! Is that me?" Everybody dragged their eyes to the girl Haley was staring at and sure enough, it was her. "I become a cheerleader?" Brooke let out sound that was awful lot like a snort and Nathan couldn't help but silently agree with the brunette girl.

They were just close enough to hear a redhead in the middle say, "Show time." Brooke's jaw dropped in amazement as she watched her walk in front of her future self and block her from view. They continued until the redhead spun around with everyone else and came face to face with Brooke.

"Don't push me, bitch." Younger Brooke nodded her head in approval and looked at Peyton. "Remind me not to let that slut on the squad." Peyton tried not to smile and nodded at her best friend's statement.

The look on Brooke's faced turned to one of anger as she watched the girl say, "I'm just getting started," and turn back front to face the audience. She couldn't keep the glare off her face as she watched this new girl start doing gymnastic tricks to show off.

Her older self tried to get back into the routine but stopped again when the girl came close to her face.

"Too bad this isn't the pole dancing you do on weekends!" The redhead let a look of anger wash over her face before smiling smugly. She went back to her tricks and kicked high right in front of Brooke, causing the other girl to swing at her.

As the mystery girl ended in a split on the floor, the younger Brooke said, "Who does she think she is?" No one answered, fearing the wrath of Brooke but looked instead at the scene that was starting to unfold before them.

After getting up off the floor, the girl had turned around to face Brooke. The dark haired girl shoved her as she said, "What is your problem?"

Skillz grinned and said, "Girl fight." Brooke just turned around to glare at him.

As soon as the girl had regained her balance from being pushed, she shoved Brooke back and replied, "I think you're the one with the problem. You dance like a cripple. Nice splits, though. You must have a lot of practice spreading your legs." Brooke gasped. Peyton grabbed her arm to stop her from getting closer.

Her future counterpart had put her hands on her hip and stepped nearer to the other girl. "I also have a lot of practice making fists. Do you wanna see?"

The red head looked at Brooke incredulously. "Brooke, you don't scare me. I mean it's not like I'm a cookie or a doughnut." Peyton had to grab Brooke by her other arm as well as the girl gasped again and struggled to get away.

"Peyton! Let me go!"

"Brooke, stop! You don't know what touching them will do!"

Meanwhile, Dan hadn't noticed the scene behind him and had started talking again as the crowd settled down slightly.

"Now, the team that's going to deliver us our state title! Your Tree Hill Ravens!" He pointed towards the banner at the end of the gym as he said these last words and the spotlight went to find the boys. The crowd began to roar again as two boys came bursting through the paper. It took everyone in the group a minute to realize it was Lucas and Nathan throwing punches at each other as they rolled on the ground.

"Oh, good Lord," murmered Whitey. "Look's like you two never stop being a couple of idiots." Karen and Deb both looked at their boys reproachfully. The cheerleaders has turned their attention to the fight, too, as Peyton remarked, "What happened?"

Brooke said, "Who knows." She looked at the red headed girl. "Maybe someone was being a full on diva skank."

"You'd know."

Everyone's eyes widened as they watched Brooke slap the girl. The other Brooke smiled slyly and shrugged Peyton off. "You don't have to hold me back. I think I'm going to enjoy this."

"You just bought yourself a nose job." Brooke gasped as she watched herself get punched in the face and Peyton grabbed her once again. Her grip loosened, however when she saw herself tackle this girl to the ground. Some of the other girls tried to pull her off, but it only resulted in the fight expanding to include everyone.

Haley murmured, "I cannot believe I get into a cat fight with a bunch of cheerleaders." Lucas continued watching the brawl in front of him but nodded in agreement with her.

On the other side, the basketball team was in the middle of their own riot. They were rolling on the floor, fighting for the upper hand and in the middle of it all were the Scott brothers. The cheerleaders were just as bad. Peyton's eyebrows raised as she watched her future self go after the Raven mascot. That couldn't have been necessary. Brooke was holding the red headed girl down by her throat but the other girl soon threw her off.

Over the roar of the crowd they heard Mouth from the announcer's table yell, "Now this is truly midnight madness!" He then turned to talk to the girl sitting next to them, but their voices were drowned out by the shouts of everyone in the gym. The last thing Lucas saw was Dan still standing on the sideline trying to keep the grin off his face.

Right then, they all recognized the dulling of the noise and the ringing of their ears. Whitey especially was eager to make his way from this mess those kids were making. He's be damned if he let them go at it like this when the time actually came around.

When they looked around then again, the gym was calm and empty again. It wasn't long before a different Lucas and Peyton came walking through the doors behind them. As they turned to face the two, they heard Peyton say something about it being a while since they had been there. Lucas wrinkled his forehead as he listened to Peyton say something about him missing a shot but couldn't hear the details. They waited for the pair to get closer before they could actually listen to any of the detail in their conversation.

"So what do you have to tell me?" Lucas laughed and looked away at Peyton's question.

"How'd you know?"

"Well, I figured you either brought me in here to talk, to make out, or to kill me and since we're not gonna make out I guess it's talk or die. "

Karen let a small smile go across her face at the exchange between her son and the girl who would one day become her daughter-in-law. She honestly liked the blond and was grateful that he would get the happy ending with Peyton Sawyer that he had been longing for for so long.

"Is it bad?"

Lucas nodded slightly, only hesitating a little before he looked back towards his friend. "Yeah."

"Let me guess. I've got three moms." She widened her yes to show she was joking but the Peyton standing a few feet away from her wrinkled her forehead. First of all, she hated to talk about her mom to anyone who wasn't Brooke and what did she mean three moms? Did that mean there was a second one?

"Ellie was buying marijuana." The look on Peyton's face went from joking to serious at these words. "But not for the reasons you think. She's sick. She has cancer, Peyton."

"She told you that?" When Lucas nodded at her, Peyton rolled her eyes and looked away. "Come on, Luke. That's just another one of her lies."

"I don't think so. I think she was afraid that if you knew the truth, you'd feel obligated in some way." Peyton's face was completely serious as she broke eye contact with him once again. "You know. It would change things between you for the wrong reasons."

"Kinda like your little secret about Dan and the fire?" Peyton recognizes her attempt to shift the topic off of herself and sighs. At least something doesn't change. The other Peyton had lighter look on her face while Lucas was the one who looked away this time.

"And what little secret is that?"

They all jumped a little as they turned to see Dan standing behind them. None of them had heard him come in, and from the looks on the blonds' faces, neither had they.

"Sorry to interrupt your little melodrama, but Lucas and I have unfinished business."

The change in atmosphere was palpable to everyone in the room. Lucas has stepped in front of Peyton and they could all see how tense they had both gotten in a matter of seconds. The Lucas who was observing all of this squinted his eyes at the three people before him in confusion. He had never been scared of his father. He had always hated the man, but never feared him. And the fear that was coming off Peyton was disconcerting to him, too. In all the years he had been watching her, he had never once seen her scared. Even though the girl was trying her best to hide it, they could all feel it coming off of her in waves.

"Peyton, you should go." The girl glanced towards him at this command but grabbed his arm as she started to walk. She looked down while leading him away.

"Yeah, we're both going."

"Bit Oedipal, don't you think? Trying to kill Daddy?" Lucas stuck his hand out in front of Peyton to keep her from getting any closer to his father. At Dan's words, Karen had turned to stare at her son. He met her eyes and shook his head slightly.

"I never...I wouldn't."

"Someone should tell mom she's in for some action." Karen reluctantly dragged her eyes away from Lucas and looked back at the scene in front of her. A million thoughts were racing through her mind. She couldn't imagine her boy trying to kill anyone. Keith reached out and took her hand. She felt slightly reassured by the light squeeze he gave it but couldn't help but dread whatever was coming next.

"You don't know what happened that night." Lucas stated this calmly even though Dan was getting closer and closer to him. "You can't remember and it's killing you." A bit of disdain had made its way into his voice as he tried to move around Dan.

"Enlighten me." Dan grabbed Lucas by his throat and the whole group jumped a little. This time Karen turned glance back at Dan. The man's face was set as he watched. If the little bastard had really tried to kill him, then he deserved everything he was going to get.

"Let go of me!" Lucas tried to get away while Peyton grabbed Dan's arm futilely. She was no match for the large man.

"Leave him alone!" Dan turned his attention to Peyton.

"This is a family matter. You would understand that if you had one." As he said this he put his hand on her head and pushed her away. The Peyton watching this raised her eyebrows. She knew there was a reason she had never had liked Dan all that much. Meanwhile, the distraction had given Lucas just enough time to get loose.

"You son of a bitch." Lucas drew back and punched Dan. Behind them everyone watched in horror as Dan just laughed.

"My record in this court's a little better than yours Lucas." Luke went to punch him again but Dan easily blocked him. He grabbed the boy by the throat and began to squeeze.

"You really think you could try to kill me?!"

"Stop it!" Peyton struggled uselessly to pull Lucas away.

"Get away with this? There are easier ways to kill a man, Lucas"

Peyton continued to fight him. "Let go!" She tried to push him off to no avail. "He wasn't trying to kill you!"

"Like choking!"

"He saved your life!" This finally caught Dan's attention. He looked at Peyton and then back down at Lucas squirming in his grasp. He let go just as suddenly as he had started this whole thing and Lucas dropped to the floor holding this throat. Peyton was down beside him in a second to make sure he was okay as Dan just stared at them.

"Lucas, you have to tell him." She glanced at the man standing over them.

After a minute the boy said, "I was there." He clutched at his throat, trying to regain his breathing. "But not to kill you." He paused for a couple of seconds. "I saved your life." He paused again and continued as he looked up, "But I should have let you burn."

Dan finally blinked and looked around wildly. When he looked back down he shook his head at his son and replied, "Well, a stronger man would have." Upon hearing this, Keith turned around to his brother and shook his head.

"What happens to you, Danny? Doing something like that to your own son?"

Dan just looked at his brother, feeling the eyes of the other on him.

"This will be our secret, Lucas. That goes for you too, Ms. Sawyer." Peyton glared up at Dan, not even bothering to keep the disgust off her face. Dan looked like he was going to continue but instead shook his head once more and walked out of the gym. Peyton watched him go before turning her attention to the out of breathe boy besides her.

"Luke, I'm sorry. I had to tell him." She scooted closer to him and knelt down.

"It's alright." He shifted to make himself more comfortable as she put her hand on his arm.

"Are you okay?"

Lucas didn't respond right away. When he did he looked in the direction Dan had left in and said, "That's my father. What do you think?" He turned his head to look at Peyton. She didn't answer him but instead blinked and sat back a little.

The group just stared at them sitting on the floor. No one wanted to say anything. No one knew what to say. They were almost thankful when they felt that feeling again.

The gym was lit up and Nathan and a small blond boy they recognized as Jamie were standing a few yards away from them. The boy was dressed in the full Ravens uniform, down to the sweatbands on his wrists. He was staring up at the two jerseys on the wall with a confused look on his face.

"There's something missing. Up on the wall. There used to be another one. What was it?"

Nathan squatted down next to his son and followed his gaze. With a sigh he said, "That was your grandfather's jersey." He turned his head to look at the boy.

"Grandpa Dan? Why's they take it down?"

Nathan sighed again and looked back at the blank spot on the wall. "Because of the bad things he did. People decided they didn't want it up there anymore."

Jamie still looked like he didn't understand what Nathan was telling him. "You do bad things sometimes, Daddy, and yours is still up there."

As Nathan quietly replied, "Not that bad" to his son's previous statement, the other Nathan turned his attention to Haley before they both turned back to the boy in front of them. He was trying to gage her reaction to their child.

After a couple seconds, Brooke let out a small quiet laugh. They all looked at her questioningly and she shrugged. "Kid looks more like Lucas than Nathan."

Nathan turned to glare at his brother before Haley hit him on the chest. He raised his eyebrows are her. That had almost seemed...wifelike to him. Or at least girlfriend-like. At his questioning look Haley rolled her eyes and said, "I know what you're thinking and don't. Luke is like my brother. That's gross."

After looking the boy over, Keith had started to mull over the things he had just heard from the father and son standing before them. If his nephew was telling the boy that Dan had done something to get his jersey removed, then it must be pretty bad. He looked over at his brothers and squinted a little. They had never been too close but in his heart he believed that Dan was a good person. Somewhere very, very deep inside.

Dan noticed Keith staring at him and said impatiently, "What?

Whitey cut in before Keith could answer. "He's wondering what the hell kind of mess you get yourself into in the future, Danny. What you possibly could do to make this entire town turn against you."

Dan just glared at the coach and didn't answer. Deb looked at her husband and shook her head slightly. She knew the things he was capable of. He wasn't the same man he had been when they got married. Maybe he never had been. She looked away and met Karen's eye. As they looked at each other, they were sharing all the pain this man had caused them, and all of the pain he had yet to inflict. They fell back into their uneasy silence, waiting to be taken to somewhere new. When the feeling took them, they could only be thankful.

This time it was Haley sitting on the bleachers going through a stack of papers in her hand. It was obvious that she was pregnant, but she wasn't huge yet. Her hair was shoulder length and darker than it had been in high school. Brooke smiled and said, "Finally, you actually do something good with that hair of yours." Haley turned to frown at her but before she could reply, Peyton walked in. Haley grinned at her and stood up.

"Hey, Foxy!"

"Hey, there," answered Haley excitedly. The two women embraced and as Peyton pulled away, they could see the way her green dress stuck to her slightly rounded stomach. Peyton looked down at her cheerleading uniform and then back at her future self. It was weird seeing herself pregnant. It was even weirder thinking about their being another life inside of her.

The two women started talking as they stood there. In front of them, Peyton had crossed her arms and rubbed her bare arms as Haley placed her papers down on the bleachers next to them.

"How'd your meeting go?"

Haley grinned in response to Peyton's question. "Good. Really good. The new principal said as soon as he saw the reason behind my termination, he knew it was a huge mistake. One that bitch shouldn't have made." Peyton raised her eyebrows and grinned.

"Well, maybe he didn't say it in those words exactly. " Peyton nodded and laughed again.

"So when are you going to start?"

Haley shrugged. "He told me that since I was pregnant, he knew I probably wouldn't want to work this upcoming year. So maybe next year? I have to see how everything goes. Plus, we're going to have to figure out what to do about the studio."

Peyton nodded in agreement.

Haley shrugged. "Listen, I know you didn't really like her at the beginning, but Miranda really is okay. I think maybe we could trust her to run things for us while we're on maternity leave. Or whatever we decide to do. It's not like we're not ever going be there. I know you and you're going to be checking up on things pretty much everyday. Even with two kids to take care of."

Peyton rolled her eyes a little and grinned. She knew Haley was right. "Wellll" She drug the word out and Haley knew she was about to propose something Haley wouldn't be sure about.

"I've thinking about it for awhile and I think I may have come up with a solution. So Mia will be getting back from tour about a month before I have the baby. So that's like three months before your's comes. I think we should sit down and talk to her and see if she would be interested in running the record for a couple months just while we're not able to do it full time. It'll be before she records her next album and who knows, maybe it'll do her good to see how everything is run on the other side. And as for Miranda, I do like her." Haley cocked her eyebrow.

"What? I do!" Peyton hesitating before adding, "I just saying I don't know if I trust her. I mean she did come here to shut down the label I started. You'd have issues trusting her if she was trying to destroy something you created."

Haley shook her head vigorously. "No, I know, Peyton. I completely understand why you don't trust her. I didn't either when she came here. But when she stuck around after Mia and I threatened to pull ourselves off the record, she started to grow on me. Then she was sort of...I don't know...supportive during the whole Renee thing. She's really not that bad and I think she's come to genuinely care for Red Bedroom."

Peyton still looked unsure but listened as Haley continued. "How about this. We talk to Mia when she gets back and see what she thinks. Then if she's okay with it, we train them to work together. I'm sure they can manage to get along for a couple of months."

Peyton still looked like she was thinking about it. "Listen, Peyton. Just think about it. This is _your_ company. You're the one who started it and it never would have made it this far without someone like you running it. In the end, it's your decision. And if that happens to be the two of us working with two babies in the studio, then so be it."

Peyton rolled her eyes at her friends words. "Okay, Hales. First of all we're partners. I may have started this company, but your the one who kept it afloat while me and Luke were away. And I would never make any decisions that you weren't okay with. I know you don't want to work right after the baby comes and neither to I. Plus, I don't think Nathan and Luke would like that very much anyway. Let's just see how things go with Mia and then go from there."

Haley smiled at her and nodded. The blond hesitated a minute before saying, "Haley?"

The other woman looked up at the serious tone that had entered her voice and answered, "Yeah?"

"That's not the only reason I asked to meet you here after your interview."

Haley tilted her head and waited for an explanation. "Luke and I left so soon after Sawyer was born and so much has happened since we got back with Brooke being pregnant and then finding out I was pregnant and then you. Plus, with Luke working on his new book and starting coaching again and me trying to get back into working at the label, I just haven't had time to talk to you."

"What is it?"

The blond looked Haley in the eye. "I'm worried about Dan."

Haley's eyes only widened a little bit. Part of her had been expecting this since Sawyer had been born. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm worried he's going to start coming around. Like he did with Jamie. And you saw what happened there. As soon as Jamie found out about him, he wanted to meet him. And I know that he ended up trusting him."

Haley's gaze was steady as she looked at Peyton.

"I don't think I want him around Sawyer." She hesitated while trying to find the right words. "And I know Lucas won't want him anywhere near us." Haley nodded. She knew the blond was more then right about her best friend.

"Right after she was born, Dan stopped by the house. Luke and Karen had gone for a walk and he just showed up while I was sitting on the porch with her. We talked a little bit and...I let him hold her. I never told Luke." Haley's eyebrows shot up.

"I know. I know. It was stupid of me. I mean if Lucas ever found out he would kill me." She widened her eyes at the end of sentence to emphasize her point and Haley couldn't help but smile a little bit.

"It's just I'm scared he's going to come around here looking to meet her and get to know her like he did with Jamie. And now that I'm about to have another baby I'm not going to be able to watch her as closely as I have been since we've got back. What if I slip up and he gets to her? You know how he was sometimes just around whenever Jamie was there."

Haley sighed. "I understand how you feel, Peyton, but there is no right answer to this. I mean things are different for us. Nathan grew up with Dan and I think part of him will always love him. Even though he would never admit that. A bigger part of him hates Dan but still..." She trailed off before continuing, "Lucas didn't know Dan growing up and he definitely never loved him. We both know that. I mean Dan screwed them both up in their own ways but he was the only father Nathan ever had. Luke had Keith and that made all of the difference."

Peyton nodded. "I know." She sighed. "Why do you let Jamie see him?"

Haley breathed in deeply. She had to think for a minute before finding the right words. "You know we lied at first and told Jamie he was dead. But then he found out the truth and started asking questions about where Dan was and what he had done to go to jail. Then Dan got out of jail and he had the heart condition and that psycho kidnapped Jamie and it was Dan who saved him. If it hadn't been for him, I don't know if we would have Jamie today. Then when she came back, he was there for the entire scene with her. She tortured him for months for what he had done to her by saving Jamie. And I started to feel bad for him and Jamie started asking to see him more and more. Then eventually, he started watching Scott Free when Nathan and I weren't looking and he became even more enamored with him. Nathan tried talking to both of them again and again but it never worked. Jamie always insisted on still seeing Dan and Dan just kept asking for forgiveness. Sometimes I feel like I'm being a horrible mother but I can't help but cave when Jamie asks to see him."

Peyton opened her mouth to say something but Haley cut her off. "Don't get me wrong. I hate Dan. I really do and I will never be able to forgive him for what he did. We both saw Lucas and Karen afterwards. He broke them and they were the strongest people I knew growing up. But I don't know how to tell all of that to a seven year old. How do I tell him that his grandfather's evil? I just can't so it. Not after everything he's been through in the last couple of years."

Peyton nodded in understanding. "I know. I understand all of that but still..." She trailed off, not finishing her sentence.

"Wait, you do know he's gone right?"

Peyton cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that he left. The last time he and Nathan talked, Nathan told him he wouldn't consider letting him back into his life unless he was sure Dan didn't have ulterior motives. That he wasn't just doing it for himself. I don't think Nathan actually expected Dan to do anything about it. Then Dan ended the show. Just like that. He got on a bus and left. We haven't seen him since"

Peyton raised her eyebrows. "And you don't think he's going to come back?"

Haley just shrugged her shoulder and shook her head a little. "I don't know. But if he does I know Jamie is going to want to see him. And I don't know that I can stop him."

Peyton stared at Haley. "Lucas will never let Sawyer see him. Never. I have never seen him as angry as he gets as when Dan comes up. He hates him. And I know for a fact, part of him blames himself for Keith's death because if he had just left Dan to burn in that fire, Keith would still be here today. I think he sees that every time he looks at his mom and every time he looks at Lily. Nothing is ever going to change his mind on this. You know how he is. He's stubborn. And I can't say I blame him. I don't want Dan in our lives either. Hell, he scared the crap out of me when I was dating Nathan."

Haley nodded and smiled. She had felt the same way. "I just don't think you should worry about this until it becomes something you need to worry about. Plus, you shouldn't be stressing anyway. You're pregnant."

Peyton rolled her eyes and placed her hand on her stomach. "Yeah I'm pregnant but it's not like last time. When are you all going to get that? I've been through a million tests and all the doctors say I'm fine. Even if Luke is treating me the same as then, I swear I'm not going to break if I get a little worried."

Haley shook her head. "You weren't the one who had to sit there helpless and just watch you not wake up, Peyton. Those four days were some of the scariest days any of us have been through, and look at all the other stuff that's happened to us. I don't know what any of us would have done if you never came out of it and it's just natural that Luke's worried about you. You would be too if you came that close to losing him."

Peyton just muttered to herself, "You're not the one who hasn't had sex in months." Haley started laughing and soon Peyton joined in with her. "No, really. Lucas is scared to touch me and I'm going crazy." They kept laughing for a while and as they started to calm down, Peyton looked at the three jerseys hanging on the wall. "Did you ever think we would end up here?"

Haley wrinkled her forehead and said, "What do you mean? That you and I would end up married into the crazy Scott family talking about how to keep our kids away from convicts and how to keep our label running while we go on maternity leave. Coincidentally at the same time?"

Peyton laughed. "That's exactly what I mean."

Haley just shook her head and started laughing. "Not in a million years."

Peyton threw her arm around the other girl's shoulders and said, "I guess this is what happens when you follow your heart."

Haley chuckled as she added, "Not to mention a couple psycho stalkers, Chris Keller and Nanny Deb." She emphasized the last name she said to make it clear she was joking. Sort of.

They began walking away. Haley kept laughing and said, "Come on, Girlie. Let's go find those husbands of ours."

The cluster of people watched them as they walked out of the gym. Peyton looked at Haley as Brooke said, "Look's like you two get pretty close." Peyton could hear the hint of jealousy in her best friend's voice and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She loved Brooke but her protectiveness had the tendency to irk Peyton.

It wasn't long before they were going again. Instead of dreading whatever was going to happen next, Lucas was surprised to find himself a little bit excited. He could tell from the looks on Brooke and Haley's faces that they were feeling the same way but trying to hide it. Seeing the look on his mother's face, however, he knew that everything they saw this day had the potential to change their lives.

When they were finally settled, the gym was quiet but they could all hear voices coming from outside the gym. All they could do was wait for whatever was going to come next in this nightmare.

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**Hope you liked it and please review! I always work better when I know people are reading. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Hey, guys. Sorry for the delay in updates. It's been another crazy week. I don't own anything, as usual. Enjoy!**

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Brooke strutted into the gym with a boy on her hip and a bag on her shoulder. The bag was sliding down her arm as she struggled uselessly to pull it back up. Her green dress was high collared and sleeveless while she walked confidently in her black heels. The boy she was holding had his arms locked around her neck and his face buried against her shoulder.

"Scottie, what is wrong with you today?" Brooke didn't expect an answer from the child. She was asking the question more to herself than him. She continued walking and let her bag drop on the floor next to the bleachers as she began pacing back and forth rubbing his back.

After awhile, she tried to lift the boy away from her but he just clung tighter and shook his head. So she returned to rubbing his back and murmuring in his ear. They continued like this for awhile until Brooke heard the gym door open behind her. "Finally," she muttered.

Lucas walked in with two girls by his side.

"Hey, Broody. What's with crazy phone call?" she greeted. He smiled apologetically at her.

"I'm really sorry to do this to you but Peyton was running late so I took the girls with me to do some last minute work in the office before I leave but I have to catch my flight in an hour and I figured that since you were in the neighborhood maybe you could just take them for a couple hours until Peyton is done doing whatever she's in the middle of."

Brooke shook her head. "Yeah, sure. It's no problem. Really. Don't worry about it. That's what I'm here for, afterall. My only problem right now is Mr. Clingy." She nodded her head towards the boy hanging on her. She then grins at the other other two standing next to Lucas. "Hey, girls."

They both smiled back and said, "Hi, Aunt Brooke!" The boy's head raised at the sound of their voices and he smiled slightly at them.

Lucas watched this exchange but wrinkled his forehead at the little boy in Brooke's arms. He wasn't used to seeing him being held. "Hey, Scottie. You wanna go play with Sawyer and Anna?"

"You wanna play, little man?" He hesitated slightly and just stared at his mother. Then he looked indecisively at the girls and and back at her.

"Go ahead. I promise I'll still be here to use as your personal jungle gym when you get back." He finally loosened his hold on her neck and allowed her to place him on the gym floor. He walked over to the girls and they immediately started the move away. As they kept walking, he glanced back a couple times as if to make sure Brooke was still there.

Lucas leaned over and gave her a sideways hug and said, "What's up with him?"

Brooke looked bewildered and shook her head. "I have no idea. He's been like that ever since he got back from Naley's last night. He wouldn't let Julian give him a bath. He wouldn't sleep in his own bed. I couldn't work because he constantly wanted to be held. I don't remember carrying him this much since before he could crawl."

"Maybe he's coming down with something?" Brooke just shrugged in response.

They looked at the children in front of them and watched them play for a minute. Sawyer had tight pale blond curls that went right past her shoulders while Anna's hair was more wavy than curly and had a more golden look to it. Both of their eyes were a deep blue just like Lucas'. Scott had dark brown hair and dark eyes to match. As something Sawyer said made him laugh, his face changed completely from what it had been just moments before.

Brooke added, "And he's just been whining non-stop. When he isn't refusing to talk, I mean. It's like he can't be away from me. Like he thinks I'm going to disappear if he lets go of me."

Lucas grunted but didn't say anything. They stood there for few moments longer before he started and looked at the phone in his hand. "I'm sorry but I really have to go. Are you sure you're going to be alright with them?"

Brooke nodded. "Yeah. We'll be fine. I have some sketches I have to finish up but I can do that while they play. Then we'll walk down to get something to eat later. It'll be fun."

Lucas looked at her doubtfully. Then he looked at his watch and muttered, "Crap." He quickly hugged Brooke again and ran over to the girls. He squatted in front of them and said something Brooke couldn't hear. Then he opened his arms ot hug, then kissed them both on the forehead and stood back up. He ruffled Scott's hair before starting to jog out of the gym.

"Thanks again, Brooke!"

"Yeah, yeah. No problem."

As the doors slammed behind him, Brooke settled herself on the bottom bleacher. She pulled her bag towards her and started taking out drawings in various states of progress. Shuffling through them, she finally picked one and settled it on top of the others.

On the other side of the group, the three kids had sat down on the floor and had their heads leaned in close together. They were far enough away from Brooke so she wouldn't overhear their conversation but close enough for everyone else to listen in.

"Scottie, why are you so sad?" Anna looked at him expectantly.

The little boy shrugged but didn't respond.

Sawyer tried to pry a little further. "Come on, Scottie. You can talk to us. We won't tell anyone. Promise."

He just sighed and looked at them. Then he glanced back at Brooke bent over her drawings.

"I heard Aunt Haley and Uncle Nathan talking last night. They said my mommy wasn't supposed to have had me. They called me a miracle."

"What's that?" Scott looked at Anna and shrugged again.

"I don't know. But what if my mommy decides she doesn't want me anymore and tries to give me away?"

Sawyer laughed and Scott looked at her angrily. "Your mom and dad wouldn't give you away. They like you too much to do that. And my mom always says the happiest she ever saw your mom was when you were born. And your mom's always happy so she must have been really really happy."

Scott looked unsure and twisted his hands in his lap.

Anna reached out and grabbed his hand. "I don't think she would get rid of you. But you can always come live with us. I'll even let you share my room with me. And if anyone tries to send you away, I'll run away with you."

Scott looked up with a surprised expression. "Really?

Anna nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! We can join the circus."

"Anna, you can't join the circus. You would miss mom and dad too much. And they would miss you a lot too. I bet mommy would cry a lot."

Anna thought about it for a minute before saying, "Well, we would visit a lot. But mommy and daddy would have you and each other. I can't let Scott leave on his own. You know mommy always says the world can be a really scary place sometimes. Especially when you're alone."

Scott wrinkled his forehead and blinked. Anna just squeezed his hand and said, "Don't be sad, Scottie. Everything is going to be fine. I promise."

Just then they heard the door open at the front of the room and they all looked over. Nathan was walking through the door with a little girl in his arms. Lily and Jamie walked in behind him, their heads bent together in conversation.

Brooke stood up and grinned. "Hey, there, Super Star."

"Hey, Brooke." Nathan smiled back at her and set the girl down on the floor to go play with the others. The three of them chorused, "Hi, Aunt Brooke!" as they ran towards the others.

"What are you doing here?"

Nathan quickly looked away and blinked. He made sure Lily and Jamie were out of earshot before saying, "I just picked Lily and Jamie up from school. Lucas called me and told me you would be here with the kids. I need a favor."

Brooke looked concerned. "Yeah, sure. Anything. What's wrong?"

Nathan rubbed the back of his neck and looked away again. He laughed awkwardly. "Well, see Haley called me and told me that she's leaving the studio early. And since we've both been working so much and Jamie got sick and then Leah got sick it's been so hectic lately. And she said she really wanted to spend some _alone_ time together this afternoon."

Brooke's eyebrows shot up. "_Alone_ time?" She let it sink in for a moment before continuing, "You're asking me to watch the kids so you can go home for an afternoon booty call?" She squinted her eyes and made a face.

Nathan looked embarrassed. "Please, Brooke. Lucas told me that you were watching Sawyer and Anna here until Peyton gets off work and I was just hoping you could just take them for awhile. It would only be for an hour or two.." He trailed off at the end of his sentence and looked at her hopefully.

She sighed and glared at him. "I cannot believe I'm going to be stuck here babysitting while you and Haley are getting lucky," she muttered.

Nathan grinned at her. "Really?"

Brooke sighed again and pointed at him. "You owe me big time for this, mister. I mean it."

He nodded exuberantly and started to back away.

"And don't think I didn't notice that you were supposed to be watching Lily for Karen today and now you're sticking her with me! Because I did and that means you owe me even more!"

Nathan just kept nodding as he went towards the kids. Brooke muttered to herself, "Great. I got myself stuck in this gym with 6 kids. No way of leaving or anything. Ridiculous."

After Nathan had said his goodbyes, he made his way back over and hugged Brooke. "I cannot thank you enough, Brooke, really. I promise I'll make it up to you somehow."

She just rolled her eyes and shook her head at him. "Yeah, yeah. When are you going to come pick them up?"

Nathan, who had already started walking towards to the door, yelled over his shoulder, "Leah goes with Peyton and Luke tonight and Jamie's staying at Karen's."

The woman scoffed and yelled out, "Are you kidding me? You couldn't wait a couple of hours to drop them off yourself?"

The man didn't reply but instead waved his hand and quickly went back through the doors he had came in by. Brooke let out a deep sigh and turned her attention to the kids in the middle of the gym. Jamie and Lily had mysteriously gotten a basketball from somewhere while Leah had joined Anna and Scott on the floor. Sawyer had just stood up to go join the older two.

Brooke bit her lip as she watched them. How was she supposed to entertain them all until it was time for them to go home? She didn't even bring anything except her sketches. She sat back down on the bleachers and picked up a drawing. She wasn't going to say anything to them until they got bored, which would hopefully take awhile.

As she got lost in drawing, the group started talking amongst themselves. They had been silent up until that point, but as soon as Brooke settled down they all started speaking over each other asking questions and trying to get their point across.

"So that's the baby I was pregnant with?" Haley questioned. Nathan shrugged and then nodded. As they looked at the girl with her straight, light brown hair in pigtails, he could see that she got her looks from her mother.

"So I'm guessing those are the kids you two were pregnant with before?" Peyton and Haley looked at each other and nodded in agreement with Brooke's statement. "And the boy is definitely mine so that means you both must have gotten knocked up right after I found out I was." The other girls looked at each other again.

"By the way, you two would push all the kids off on me," Brooke grumbled at the guys. Lucas turned so she wouldn't see the smile that was making its way onto his face while Nathan didn't even try to hide it.

Peyton muttered to herself, "I don't even like kids." Haley laughed at her stubbornness and Brooke nodded in agreement.

"But you have to admit. They are pretty cute." Everybody there nodded at Haley's last statement. They continued making comments about which children looked like who out of them until Karen interrupted.

"Lily's mine?"

At this statement, everyone stopped talking at once and either looked at the woman standing next to them or the girl on the other side of the court. It wasn't hard to see the resemblance in their dark hair and eyes. The girl was a perfect mixture of Keith and Karen. As she tilted her head back and laughed at something Jamie had just done, the startling reality of Keith's loss began to hit them once again. Karen was tearing up but tried to hide it by turning herself completely to face the kids.

"I mean it seems like she's really close to Jamie and he just said the boy was staying with me that night. It makes sense..."

As she wrapped her arms around herself, Keith came over and put his hand on her shoulder. Lucas wanted to move to comfort her but he felt like he was frozen in place. They lapsed into silence, all wondering what could possibly leave the girl fatherless.

"Aunt Brooke! We're bored!"

Both Brookes snapped their heads up to look at Lily when they heard their name called. Younger Brooke relaxed when she realized they didn't mean her while the other one sighed and muttered, "Great."

Lily and Jamie came running over to stand in front of her. The others trailed after them until they were all gathered around her. Scott immediately went to stand besides her and leaned heavily against her legs.

"She was right. That kid really is clingy."

"Brooke, you heard what they both said earlier. Obviously you weren't supposed to be able to have kids. He doesn't understand that." Brooke just rolled her eyes in response to Haley. The not being able to have kids thing bothered her but obviously not as much as it one day would.

"What are you drawing?" Brooke smiled at Sawyer and started shuffling her papers.

"This is going to be the new fall line." She held up the pictures one by one to show them to the kids.

"But it's not even summer yet, Aunt Brooke. Why are you already making new clothes for so far away?"

The woman looked down at Anna but before she could answer Sawyer cut in. "The clothes for summer had to be ready for the magazines a long time before it actually was summer right, Aunt Brooke? That way everyone can buy it to wear when it gets hot out. So now she's making the winter clothes so everyone will be able to see them and pick out which ones they like for when it gets cold out. Right?"

Brooke nodded at Sawyer and smiled.

"Can we be models again?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, can we? Please please pleaseeee?" added Sawyer.

The woman laughed at their eagerness and nodded. "Of course you can. For the kid's line anyway. I wouldn't want anyone else as my models. You guys are all my favorites."

"You like us even better than Aunt Rachel?" Leah asked with awe in her voice.

"Of course I do. I like most people better than Rachel." She muttered this last part to herself but Jamie and Lily heard and started giggling.

"So what do you guys want to do?"

"Can we go to the movies?" Lily looked her hopefully.

Brooke replied, "Sorry, hun. You can't all fit in my car. We have to stay here until your mom comes to get you."

Sawyer sighed and looked disappointed.

"Will you tell us stories?"

"You guys already know most of my stories, Jamie. You've heard them all before."

"Please, Aunt Brooke. We like listening to them. Plus the babies haven't heard them all," added Lily.

"We're not babies," claimed Scott indignantly.

"I guess," Brooke replied to Lily with hesitation in her voice.

"Yes!" They all started to sit down as Jamie said, "Did I ever tell you you're my favorite godmother?"

Brooke rolled her eyes. "And you're my favorite godson. Now stop trying to suck up to me."

Jamie just laughed as he settled himself next to Lily. Next to Lily was Sawyer then Anna and then Leah. They all say with their legs crossed. Scott crawled up onto Brooke's lap and rested his head against her chest.

"So what do you guys want to hear?"

None of them said anything for a minute as they looked at each other.

"Tell us about when you went to Texas to rescue Uncle Mouth!"

Brooke laughed. "Okay. Let's see." She thought for a minute about where to start. "After prom, Mouth decided to go on a roadtrip with Rachel. So they left and none of us knew where they were until one morning when Uncle Mouth texted Uncle Skillz saying he needed help."

"Didn't he say he needed ass?"

Brooke tapped Jamie on the back of his head and glared at him. "Don't say ass. And he meant he needed assistance."

"What's assistance?"

"Assistance means help," Brooke said to Leah. She paused to see if anyone else was going to comment.

"So, we all borrowed Rachel's car and decided to take a roadtrip. It was a really really _really_ long car ride and in the middle of the night the car stopped working!"

The younger kids looked on in shock. "Lukey said it was your fault the car stopped working."

Brooke turned her head and squinted at Lily. "It was not my fault! I just didn't realize the check engine light went on."

"That's not what my daddy says, "Jamie whispered to Lily.

"Hey! Do you want to hear the story or not?"

Anna turned to Lily and Jamie and shushed them gently. Sawyer, on the other hand turned and glared at them. "Shut up! You're being annoying."

Brooke closed her eyes. "Sawyer don't tell people to shut up. And don't call other people annoying."

Sawyer sat back and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Anyway," Brooke made sure to drag out the word to see if anyone would interrupt her again. "So we were waiting on the side of the road when a _big_ tour bus pulls up next to us."

"Like the one I went on with mom and dad when I was younger?" Brooke nodded at Jamie but was cut off again before she could keep going.

"Were you scared, Aunt Brooke?"

Brooke shook her head at Anna. "Not really. I knew we would be fine."

"So who was on the bus?"

Brooke looked down at the boy in her lap and said, "Well, it was Chris Keller, who is normally not a very nice person. But he helped us anyway."

"My daddy hates Chris Keller." Anna looked at Leah and nodded in agreement. "Mine does too."

Brooke rolled her eyes. Would those two never let it go?

Lily whispered to Jamie, "Luke told me that Brooke used to actually like Chris Keller." Jamie laughed as Brooke purposely ignored them and continued with the story.

"So we went on the bus and he took us all the way to Honey Grove, which is where Uncle Mouth was. And right away we saw a police officer and asked him if he knew anything about where Uncle Mouth was. And guess what!"

They all chorused, "What?"

"Uncle Mouth was in jail!"

Leah and Anna's eyes widened. Sawyer was trying to sulk after being corrected but couldn't keep the shocked look off her face. Scott had leaned back on Brooke's lap so he could see her face. Lily and Jamie just exchanged glances and tried to keep the smirks off their faces. They had already heard this story plenty of times before.

"Did you get him out of jail?" Brooke nodded at Anna.

"Yes, we did. Then we found out the car wouldn't be fixed until the next day and we didn't have anything to do until then. That's when we saw a sign for the Honey Grove prom and decided to go."

"But what did you wear?" Brooke smiled at Sawyer and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She would be the one to ask about clothes.

"We went to the store across the street and got really funny clothes to wear."

"Were they pretty?"

Brooke hesitated before answering Leah. "They were...unique. Then we went to the prom that night and had a whole lot of fun!"

"Uncle Skillz told me you drank to much and walked in on Uncle Lucas and Aunt Peyton in bed together and you almost threw up."

Brooke felt her jaw drop at her son's statement. She stuttered for a minute and glared at Jamie and Lily as they started laughing. She shook her head slightly in disbelief.

"Did you drink too much juice? Cause sometimes when I drink too much juice my tummy starts to hurt and then sometimes I throw up." Anna waited for Brooke to answer.

Lily leaned over to Jamie and whispered, "I heard that's not all she was drinking." Brooke glared at her.

"Why were Uncle Lucas and Aunt Peyton in bed together? My daddy says I'm not supposed to sleep in the same bed with a boy until I'm 35," Leah said matter of fact.

Jamie leaned closer to Lily and whispered, "I don't think they were sleeping."

The girl just wrinkled her face and said, "Ew," as she tried not to laugh. Brooke just shot them another look.

"But Uncle Skillz told me that when he went to tell Uncle Lucas about Uncle Mouth being in trouble you and Aunt Peyton were both sleeping in the same bed with him. You weren't following the rules, Mom" Scott looked at her reproachfully.

Jamie and Lily couldn't contain themselves at this point and burst out laughing.

Sawyer cut in, "Come on, guys. Let her finish the story!" The rest of them quieted down to let Brooke continue.

The woman shook her head again and said, "Umm well, so then the next morning the car was fixed and we went home."

"Wait, that's it?" Brooke looked at Scott and nodded.

"Yep, that's it."

"That was a boring story," said Sawyer.

Lily whisper to Jamie, "I think there's a lot more to it then that." He nodded in agreement and started to laugh again but stopped when he saw Brooke glaring at them.

Right then, they felt the air change and the people in front of them disappear. After they were gone completely, those left behind stood awkwardly going over what they had just head in their head.

"Well at least we know she grows up the cause trouble." Karen just stared at Keith and tried not to think about his death. She wasn't going to ruin the time she had left with him by crying.

Lucas shifted awkwardly away from Brooke and Peyton and tried not to think about whatever uncomfortable situation he was going to get into with them in the future. Nathan just grinned and shook his head.

"You sure know how to get yourself into stuff, Brooke."

The dark haired girl glared at him but didn't reply. She could practically feel the waves of uncomfortableness coming off her best friend and couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm sure they didn't mean it that." Nathan started laughing out loud at her declaration. She kept scowling at him but didn't say anything more.

"I wonder why was I arrested?"

Skillz looked at Mouth and grinned. "I don't know, dog but I'm dying to find out. I also want to see this Rachel chick you run away with. I wonder if she's hot?"

Mouth just shook his head and laughed a little.

"Can all of you shut the hell up and stop acting like idiots. This might seem like a game to you but we need to figure out how to get back to wherever we came from."

They all turned their attention to Dan but no one replied. It had been easy for them to start distrusting him after everything they had seen and none of them really felt like dealing with his dramatics anyway.

"None of you can go back to where you all came from. Not until you learn what you're here to learn, anyway."

They all jumped as they heard a voice from the bleachers. Sitting on the bottom row, reclined back to lean against the next one up was a tall dark-skinned boy. None of them had noticed him appear. He was looking up at them with a confident (or cocky) look on his face.

"Who are you?"

The boy grinned and said, "Let's just say I'm a friend. Someone you all meet in the future. Well, not all of you. But some of you."

No one responded to him as they all continued to stare.

He rolled his eyes and grinned again. "Come on, now. Don't act like you ain't never seen a brother before."

When they still didn't say anything he let out another exasperated laugh and continued, "That was a joke." Met by more silence he said, "Alright, then. Whose seen something interesting today?" He smirked at his sarcastic tone of voice.

"It's been more on the insane and impossible to believe side of the spectrum. We're seeing ourselves and our kids and all this other stuff that can't really happen."

The boy grinned at Brooke and said, "You better start to believe it. Cause ain't none of it a lie." He looked her up and down and added, "You know. I really wish I got to know you before I died. Like really know you. Cause you are fine." He drug out the last word and waited for her reaction.

She started to roll her eyes at him and then stopped. "You're dead?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, but it's cool. I've had awhile to get used to it."

"Does that mean we're dead?" He looked at Haley and ducked his head to hide his smile.

"Didn't you just see those kids all you manage to have. None of you is dead yet. Most of you anyway." He glanced at Keith before continuing, "There've been a whole lot of close calls but so far you've managed to put it off."

"How'd you die?"

He looked at Peyton and grinned at her. "You're another one I would have loved to have known. Anyone who can put Coach straight like you did is good in my book. Plus, you fine too."

She really did roll her eyes at him and looked at him expectantly. He let the smile drop from his face. "I walked in a gas station being robbed. Got shot in the back of the head."

He watched as a range of emotions went across their faces from shock to sadness to pity.

"How do we know you're not lying to us? How do we know all of this isn't your fault?"

The boy cocked his eyebrow at Dan and shook his head. "You know I can totally see why Nate hates you, man. And personally, I think he's crazy to let J-Luke anywhere near you."

Dan's eyebrows rose and everyone held their breath waiting for his reaction. Before it came though, Lucas cut in.

"What's your name? And how do we know you?"

The boy looked at him for a minute before smiling. "Quentin Fields. I went to Tree Hill High."

"With us?"

He shook his head. "Nahh. After you. But I still knew you. You forced me to read the only book I ever liked." He nodded towards Haley. "You two coached me." He jerked his head to Luke and then Skillz. "And you...I was the one behind your come-back." He grinned boldly at Nathan.

"My come-back?"

Quentin laughed. "Yeah, man. If it weren't for me, you never would have made it back."

"But what did I have to come back from?"

Quentin opened his mouth to answer but Haley cut him off. "Wait, it's your jersey on the wall. The one that replaced Dan's. You're that Fields. "

Quentin nodded. "The one and only. Well except my little brother. But his time will come. Him and Jamie are gonna be a balling pair. A lot like you two were." He gestured between Lucas and Nathan. "Ya know. Back before you got old." He teased them.

The brothers glanced at each other and away again. Suddenly Q tilted his head back and closed his eyes.

"Come on. There are places we gotta be. Things I have to show you. We need to get this thing on the road"

They looked at him disbelievingly.

"We can't go anywhere. We can't leave the gym. It's like we're trapped in here or something."

Quentin looked at Brooke with a smirk on his face.

"Really? Have you tried?"

No one answered. They just stared at each other. Had they really been able to leave this entire time?

The younger boy smirked again and started walking backwards towards the door to the outside. "Just follow me! You think whatcha saw in here was crazy. Just you wait."

He spun around and continued moving.

"You comin'?"

They all paused for a moment before following him cautiously. Maybe leaving this room would be better for them. Getting out of this god forsaken gym couldn't lead them to anything worse then they had already seen, could it?

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**Reviews make me update faster! :-) Thank you everyone who already has and keep it up.**


	9. Chapter 8

**Thanks for all your reviews and I hope you like the next chapter. I don't own anything.**

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No words were exchanged as they followed Quentin towards the doors that would lead them out of the gym. He didn't talk to them and they didn't talk to each other. They had all gained a somber feeling, though they couldn't know why. As the boy walking in front of them pushed the double doors open, they were struck by the brightness of the outside. They didn't stop, though. Each of them passed through the light without pausing to think what would be on the other side.

They had expected to be led to the outside of the school. What they saw instead of concrete walkways and cement tables was instead grass and trees. There were headstones scattered around them and suddenly they could see why they had the feeling they did. The road at the bottom of the hill they were on was filled with cars led by a hearse.

Peyton, recognizing the area of cemetery they were in, instinctively turned her head to look for her mother's grave and drew her breathe in sharply when she saw the crowd of people standing not far from them. The rest of them turned their heads to see what had drawn her attention.

To the left of them was a casket hovering over an empty grave. The group of people dressed in black huddled under the tree were staring at the box that held their friend, lover, uncle, father. In the front of the crowd was Lucas and Karen. Next to her was Dan and then Nathan. On the right of Lucas stood Whitey. Behind them stood Haley, Brooke, Mouth and Rachel.

"Oh, god," whispered Peyton. Keith just nodded and pressed his lips together. They watched as Dan stared at the casket in disbelief and as Whitey struggled not to cry. They watched as Lucas stepped forward to take a handful of dirt and Karen's eyes fluttered closed. They watched as he let the earth slip through his fingers and Dan was called to do the same. And they watched as one by one, all the people who had loved Keith walked forward to say their last goodbye.

Quentin, who had been standing slightly in front of them, quietly turned his body to face the opposite direction. They all mimicked his actions, not knowing what to expect.

On the other side of them, was a different group of people. A different casket was being carried up the hill to be placed over a different grave. After the procession came what could only be Quentin's family, led by his mother and brother. On the other side of the casket they could see themselves. Lucas was staring ahead of him as Peyton held onto his arm. Nathan had his arm around Haley's waist as she stood next to Brooke. Deb was looking at Skills with concern on her face as he too gazed down at the coffin. Her arm was on Jamie's shoulder as the boy held a box in his hands.

Once again, they stood and observed the scene in front of them. They watched at Deb crossed over the stand next to Skills and rested her forehead against his. They watched as a group of boys in their basketball uniforms walked up the hill to hug the boy's mother and stand next to the grave. They watched as the boy's brother stood from his seat and went to stand with the team, slipping a much too large jersey on over his suit.

Before Quentin could move, they knew to look back towards the scene on their left. The only people left were Lucas and his mother. And they watched as the boy wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to him. As she began to cry for the first time, none of them could stop the tears that had started pooling in their own eyes and falling down their faces.

To their right, people had begun to leave quietly until it was just Jamie and Brooke left behind. The woman had shed her sunglasses and they could now see the bruises around her eyes and neck and noticed the discoloration on her arms. They noticed but didn't say anything as the small boy in front of them opened his box and pulled a sheet of red material out. He spread it over the casket and they realized it was a cape with the letter 'Q' emblazoned across it. As Brooke made no move to stop the tears that had started streaming down her face and Jamie slipped his small hand in hers, the dead boy standing next to them turned to face them for the first time.

Even after knowing his for such a short time, they were unused to seeing the serious look on his face. They waited for him to say something but began to realize he wasn't really looking at them, but beyond them. So they turned, dreading whatever it was they were going to witness next.

On the hill behind them stood a woman alone next to yet another coffin. She just stared at the casket before her with a heartbroken look on her face.

"That's Mrs. Edwards," whispered Mouth. With that statement Haley's eyes widened and Lucas shook his head. Skills shut his eyes and tilted his head back, shaking it from side to side.

A red car pulled up on the road at the bottom of the hill and five boys they recognized got out. Once again, they watched a group of boys walk up to comfort a grieving mother. They watched as Lucas hugged her and Mouth reached down to take her hand. And they watched at tears finally began to fall from her eyes.

The world seemed to spin and there wasn't one among them who wasn't thankful to leave this place. Somehow they were back at the school, only this time in a hallway near the library. There was glass shattered on the floor and blood smeared across it and something felt off about the air. It was eerily quiet and they were all a little scared to say anything and even more scared to see whatever it was they were about to see.

"Look. There's blood." They all jumped as Nathan and Lucas walked through the door next to them. Both boys had baseball bats in their hands as Lucas turned back towards his brother. "It could be Peyton."

"We don't know that," said Nathan, shaking his head.

"Well, it's someone. The library doors don't lock. It's not safe." Lucas inclined his head towards the shattered door behind him.

"Lucas, I have to find Haley."

A resigned look went over Lucas' face as he nodded. "I know." As the dark haired boy began to walk away, Lucas called out, "Nathan." He stopped and looked away as the younger boy turned back.

Something unspoken passes between them and Nathan nodded. "Yeah. You too, man." They look at each other one more time before going their separate ways.

The group followed Nathan, knowing that was the way they should be going. As they turned the corner behind him, everything went dark around them and they froze. Suddenly, they heard the ringing of a cell phone and after a minute, a light switched on.

They're all surprise to see Lucas sitting up in a bed in front of them as he picks the phone up from his bedside table. Peyton was stirring next to him and rolled over just in time to see him flip the device open.

"Hello?" He listens to what's being said on the other end before saying, "Oh, my god."

Peyton had leaned closer to him and looked at him with worry written across her face. "Lucas, what is it?" He flipped the phone shut and stared straight ahead.

Lucas stuttered for a moment before saying, "Quentin Fields was shot tonight." He paused before adding, "He's dead."

Peyton only paused for a second before putting her hand on his arm and moving herself closer. The man laying next to her just shook his head.

The group is thrust into darkness again but it doesn't last long. This time, they're standing in the library at their school. It doesn't take them long to see the blood on the carpet and to follow the trail to the end of the bookshelves. When they reach the other side of the last one, they look down and see Peyton and Lucas sitting there.

Her face was pale and the circles under her eyes were dark. As if they're one, their eyes travel from the pool of blood under her foot to the ripped jeans covering the hole in her leg. Lucas was in the middle of saying something to Peyton but none of them really started to listen until the girl answered him.

"You're always saving me." She whispered this and they could hear the weakness in her voice.

"Somebody's got to," Lucas said, shaking his head slightly with a small smile on his face.

"If I say I love you right now," Peyton pulled her eyes up to look him straight on. "Will you hold it against me?" She paused before adding, "Cause I've lost a lot of blood." They can all hear the tears in her voice.

Brooke could feel the tears starting to form in her eyes again as she watched her best friend on the ground. Even though she had already heard this story straight out of Peyton's mouth and knew it didn't end with her death, she couldn't believe that blond girl could actually recover from something like this. "You're dying," she stated as she looked at the same girl standing next to her. This Peyton, wearing her cheerleading uniform and a hard look on her face, just met the brunette's eyes briefly and looked back down.

Lucas hadn't responded but had given the girl sitting next to him another small smile.

"Come here," she breathed. He leaned closer to her as if to let her whisper into his ear and looked slightly confused when she moved her face closer to his. She brought her mouth up to meet his and he squeezed his eyes shut as he kissed her back. She pulled away just as quickly as she had started it and left him with a disconcerted look on his face.

"Just incase you can't keep your promise," she said, trying to smile at him but failing. She let her eyes fall shut and left him to stare at her.

The group standing over them began to feel something different in the air than before. There was a buzzing in their ears and they could feel time passing as they wait for it fade. When it finally stopped they look down, expecting the two blonds to be talking again.

Instead, Peyton's eyes were still closed and she was even whiter than before. They could tell she was unconscious as she slowly started to fall sideways and only stopped when she hit Lucas' shoulder. He looked down at her in concern and turned his body toward her carefully. He gently shook her shoulder but she didn't respond. They could see him beginning to get frantic as he shook her a little harder and began to look around him wildly.

The two started to blur and then the group was standing in a different room.

"This is the tutor center," Haley whispered as they took in the sight before them.

"And that's Jimmy," muttered Mouth. He was staring at the boy in a red hoodie standing before them. On one side of the room sat Mouth, Skills, the red headed cheerleader they had all seen at Midnight Madness, and another boy they don't recognize. On the other side were Nathan and Haley, leaning into each other.

"I promise you: whoever steps into that hallway is gonna die." They all felt a chill go down their spines at his words.

Jimmy had the gun pointed straight at Nathan while a phone lay on the floor between them. No one said anything until they all heard a loud bang echo out in the hallway.

"I guess that's my cue." He seemed to whisper more to himself than anyone in the room with him. He turned sharply and started for the door. He only stopped when he heard the red head call out after him.

"Don't. Just stop. Change it. Don't do this." Jimmy stared back at her and shook his head slightly. He shut his eyes as Mouth began to speak.

"Please, Jim. Just turn yourself in. I can go with you." He closed his eyes tightly. "This can't be happening." He whispers that last part more to himself than anyone else.

"Yo, Edwards, man. It don't have to be like this, dog."

"Yeah, I think it does." Jimmy looked straight at Skills. He turned once again and unlocked the door. As he opened it, Haley tried to reach him one last time.

"Jimmy." He pause for a second upon hearing her whisper and twisted to look at them.

"You know, they're going to remember me as a monster." He stopped. "I wonder how they'll remember all of you." With that he turned and walked out of the room. Haley leaned her head onto Nathan's chest and Mouth silently began to cry. The group stared at them with wide eyes as they felt themselves start to be moved again.

When they look around them, they're on the river court for the first time. It's early morning as Nathan shoots around with a basketball. They're all distracted by the words painted across the black top and only look up when they hear Nathan say Quentin's name. When they see he's only leaving the boy a voicemail, they then turn their attention to the car that's driving a little top fast to reach the court.

Nathan snapped his phone shut as Haley got out and rushed towards him, leaving the car on and her door open.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Nathan asked with a confused smile. Haley didn't answer but instead put her hands on her hips when she's standing right in front of him.

"Haley, what happened?" They could see the tears forming in her eyes as she struggled to find the words to tell him what they already know.

Just as quickly as before the group is moving again and find themselves on the porch leading into Lucas' room. Skills is leaning against the doorframe as the blond pulls open the door and looks at him.

"Hey, did anybody call you?"

Luke only inclined his head slightly and said, "Yeah."

"Is it true? Is Quentin really..." Skills looked down before continuing. "Is he dead?"

Lucas looked away and nodded reluctantly. "Yeah." Skills face fell as he quickly looked out into the night.

"Come on in." Lucas stepped back and gave Skills room to walk inside.

Suddenly they're inside of the bedroom and Lucas is sitting in front of them bouncing a basketball against the wall. Skills leans around the doorway and knocks lightly.

"Sup, my brother?"

The boy sitting on the bed just sighed. "Nothing," he answered as Skills walked in.

"So. listen. The guys talked and decided...We're not gonna go to Jimmy's funeral tomorrow. I mean Mouth kinda tore up about it but we all loved Keith. It just don't seem right."

Mouth shook his head and took a step back. "No," he said shaking his head. "Jim wouldn't have..." Haley squeezed her eyes shut before reaching down to grab his hand.

"Do you think there's a heaven, Skills?" The boy looked a Lucas for a minute before answering.

"Do I think there's a heaven?"

"Yeah, you know. Like pearly gates and angels," he said it with a sarcastic tone in his voice.

Skills walked over and sat on the bed next to Lucas. He shrugged and wrinkled his forehead. "I don't know about all that. Maybe some chrome gates and some freaky angels." He grinned a little bit when he saw he had made Lucas laugh.

His face turning serious, he continued, "But I do think there's something else out there. And I do think that whatever we do in this world matters in the next."

Lucas spun the ball in his hands. "Before you came in, I was thinking about Edwards. How he could take Keith's life."

Skills cut him off before he could go any further. "Luke, he wasn't right, dog. Jimmy was sick."

Lucas turned suddenly to look him in the face. "So, if that's true is heaven the kind of place that'll hold that against someone? You know, because if not, Jimmy's a victim too. And right now, in your world beyond this one, Jimmy and Keith are in the same place. I can't figure out what kind of place that would be."

"It's a place you and I wouldn't understand."

"Or a place that doesn't exist," Lucas muttered. Both boys continued to stare straight ahead of them, thinking about something only they could know. As they sat in silence, the people watching them were lost in their own world, too.

Haley looked at Lucas standing right in front of her. His back was rigid and she could tell from the set of his shoulders, he was angry. She stepped forward to be next to him and placed the hand that wasn't currently attached to Mouth on his shoulder.

"Luke," she whispered. He glanced down at her but didn't say anything. For the brief moment she saw his eyes, she got lost in the grief and fury in his gaze.

Before she can say anything, they were going again. When they stopped, they were in a different blue bedroom. The boy they all knew was Jamie was sitting on the bed petting a big rabbit while Nathan and Haley stood in the doorway watching him. He turned to look at his parents and saw the tears that were falling down his mother's face.

"What's wrong, Momma?"

Nathan and Haley exchanged glances before Nathan said, "It's about Quentin, son." They moved inside and surrounded Jamie as Haley laid next to him and Nathan sat beside him. "Son, Quentin had an accident, Jamie."

"What kind of accident? Is he gonna be okay?" the boy asked innocently.

Nathan's voice began to sound choked as he answered, "No, he's not okay, you know." He shook his head at his wife. "We won't see him anymore."

"What about the Ravens? Isn't he gonna play anymore?"

Haley drew in her breathe besides him. "Jamie..." The boy turned to look at her. "He died, honey. He can't play anymore." Even though none of them can see her face, they can all hear the tears in her voice. "And mommy and daddy are incredibly sad about it. So it's okay if you're sad, too. I know that he loved you very much and I know that you're gonna miss him and we're really gonna miss him too."

Jamie just looked dejectedly at the animal in front of him. "But what about his cape?" He stood up suddenly and jumped off the bed despite his parents' protests. He turned back briefly and said, "He's gonna like it. You'll see." With that he walked out of the room and left his parents behind.

They were shifting again and found themselves in Keith's Autobody Shop. Lucas was sitting in front of a car and Jamie was standing next to him dressed like Keith. He had a goatee and mustache painted on his face and a bandana on his head as Nathan watched them with a smile on his face. Keith let out a laugh and hearing this, Karen and Lucas smiled for the first time since they had heard he was going to die.

"You know, your great uncle Keith was the best guy I knew. He was always good to me. And my mom. He always helped me out when I was struggling." Lucas was looking at the little boy, trying to gauge his reaction.

"Sounds a lot like you, Uncle Lucas."

Lucas just looked at him for a minute before looking away with an embarrassed smile. "I don't know about that. What I do know is that he loved me and he was proud of me just like I love you and I'm proud of you." He stopped before smiling again. "Maybe you're right."

The group felt time begin to speed up around them. There was the ringing in their ears and when it stopped they could see night had fallen outside the shop. Lucas and Nathan were standing in front of the toolbox, cleaning up while Jamie was walking around with his hands in his pockets.

"I'm sad I never got to meet Uncle Keith." He looked at the two men as they turned to face him. Lucas sighed and looked down.

"Yeah, I'm sad about that too, buddy."

"And I'm sad about what Grandpa Dan did."

Nathan nodded. "Yeah, we all are, Jamie. "

"Am I still allowed to miss Grandpa Dan?" Nathan and Lucas just looked at each other. Nathan nodded his head almost imperceptibly at Lucas as the blond squinted his eyes. His face relaxed as he sighed again.

"Yeah, Jamie. Yeah." Jamie smiled slightly at this affirmation.

"I like it here." He looked around the shop. "You bring something broken and you fix it up." With that, the boy turned and started walking towards the car.

The two men started to file out behind him and Lucas turned to look back. His gaze swept across the shop and came to rest where Keith was. In that moment it seemed almost as if he could see the dead man standing in front of him. He held his gaze there a little while longer before turning off the lights and nodding. "I always liked it here too."

Keith's eyes were wide. As Lucas pulled the door down, they were plunged into darkness. Then they were standing back in the hallway at the high school. They were alone until they saw Lucas walking around the corner with Peyton in his arms. Her arm was around his neck and her head was resting against his chest. They could tell from looking at her that she hadn't woken up since they had last seen her in the library.

From the opposite direction came Jimmy with the gun in his hands."Oh, god," whispered Haley.

"Where do you think you're going?" he yelled as the blondes came through the doorway. His gaze softened a tiny bit when he saw the state Peyton was in.

"She's bleeding."

"The school's on lock down!" Jimmy shouted and looked around wildly.

"I know, Jim." They all heard the tears in the back of his throat. "But if I don't get her out of here, she's gonna die."

Jimmy had the gun pointed towards them but his face was crumbling. "I didn't mean to hurt her," he whispered.

"We know that, Jimmy." They all stared as Keith came out of the hallway to their left.

The other Keith stared at the four people before him. "This is it," he muttered under his breathe. He wasn't scared or angry or sad. In that moment, he just felt content. Content in knowing that even though he was going to die, he left behind two amazing kids who would grow up to be amazing people.

"What the hell is this?" Jimmy shouted. "The school's on lock down!"

"Please, Jimmy. Please just let them go." He gestured to the teenagers behind him. "And you and I can talk about this. She's hurt, Jimmy."

"I didn't mean it." Once again they could hear the desperation creeping back into the boy's voice.

"I know." Keith looked at Lucas and Peyton and nodded his head as he went to stand in front of them. Lucas looked like he was about to say something but didn't. "Go on, Luke," he said over his shoulder.

Jimmy kept the gun trained on them as Luke reluctantly began to move towards the doorway. Keith made sure to stay in front of them until they were at the entry way.

"Keith.." Lucas nodded his head sideways as if to tell the man to follow him.

"Luke.." Keith let his breathe out and glanced back. "I love you. Now go." The boy blinked rapidly and looked like he was going to refuse but then looked down at the girl in his arms. And he walked out, leaving Keith alone with Jimmy.

Then the group was outside of an old gas station. They watched as a white car pulled up in front of them and Quentin got out. He walked unhurriedly into the store without looking back. He disappeared into the building as they waited.

After a few minutes of silence, Haley was the first person to speak up. "He's been in there too long," she whispered, trying to deny what she already knew was about to happen. Just then, they heard a gun shot. They all jumped and Haley put her hand in front of her mouth.

Just as quickly, they were back in the hallway. Jimmy was on his knees in front of them. He still had the gun aimed at Keith but it was wobbling in his grasp as he looked around him, dazed.

"I'm not here," he murmured. "I'm not here." Keith started to move towards him.

"Jimmy, please." The boy seemed to come back to life for a minute, shaking the gun at Keith. "It's gonna be okay, son. It's gonna be okay."

"But it hurts." Jimmy pounded his fist on his chest. "It hurts. It always hurts." His voiced ended in a scream."

"I know." Sobs were starting to go through Jimmy's body as Keith stepped closer. "Please." He repeated again, "Please."

Jimmy just stared at him as the breathe went out of him. "I'm sorry." They all gasped as they saw his hand turn to point the gun at his own chest. It seemed like time was going in slow motion as his finger pulled down on the trigger.

The last thing they heard was Keith's shout, "No!" before they were back in the tutor center. They heard the gunshot come from down the hallway where they knew an innocent life was ending. They watched as Haley's head shot off of Nathan's chest with a disbelieving look. Mouth was sobbing into the red head's arms as she struggled to hold back her own tears. Next to them sat Skills, not moving his gaze from the table in front of him.

They stayed like this, frozen in shock and sorrow until they heard a second bang resound through the halls. Keith felt his breath leave him and Karen turned to him with a horrified look on her face.

"That was..." She trailed off and held his gaze.

He nodded. "That was me."

No one said anything. They heard sobs and in that moment they didn't know if it was coming more from the broken people sitting before them or themselves. They didn't know how much time had passes before someone spoke.

"I don't understand." They all looked at Brooke to see what she was talking about. When she had finally been able to stop crying, she started to think about everything they had just seen. "If Jimmy shot himself, then how did you die?"

Everyone stared at her, trying to piece together all of the fragments of memories that they had witnessed. Just then, Quentin spoke, "Come on, You'll understand soon." They quickly fell back into the silence that was starting to be natural for them.

The turned left out of the tutor center. Not one of them looked to the right, scared of what they would see. They processed through the school, following the twists of the hallway until they found themselves outside. The ones who went to school there soon realized they were taking the long way to the other side of the school where the gym was. As they made their way around the building, they began to head the buzz of people talking.

Quentin stopped abruptly when the scene in front of them came completely into view. There were people everywhere as well as cops and special forces units. They saw new vans and reporters milling around amongst the worried parents. Then they saw Karen and Keith standing and staring at each other right near them.

"I'm not gonna let anything happen to our boy."

Karen nodded and they embraced. Dan watched them with an indescribably look on his face. When they pulled away from each other, Keith pressed his lips to Karen's forehead and squeezed her hand before beginning to walk away. He grabbed Dan's shoulder on his way and made eye contact with his brother but the two didn't speak. Then he walked towards the school.

"We could stop him," whispered Lucas.

Peyton shook her head at him. "They can't hear us. They can't see us."

"We could make him feel us."

Quentin shook his head and grimaced at their small exchange.

Just then, a commotion began among the people. Through the doors they saw Lucas coming out still carrying Peyton. They watched as he passed her to someone else and was forced to lay on the ground with his hands on his head. As the men patted him down, he didn't say anything but just went along with it.

Then they heard the gunshot. The same one they had all heard before. The police all stopped moving as Lucas' head shot up and he began to argue with the nearest person. They couldn't hear what he was saying but they could see him struggling to convince them to let him stand. Then they heard the second shot. After that, they let him up. He immediately went towards his mother, who was standing near the ambulance Peyton was being loaded into.

"Dan's gone," whispered Deb, meaning the man who had been standing a few yards away from them. She turned to her husband who was right besides her and said, "What did you do?" He looked at her like she was crazy. The blond woman just nodded her head towards Brooke. "She was right. It made no sense. That boy killed himself before Keith died. They're saying you were in jail and you were a murderer. That's what you did. You killed Keith. You killed your brother."

Dan shook his head slightly. She was being ridiculous. He could never have killed his own brother. Could he?

"You killed him and then you pinned in on an innocent boy. You let someone else take the fall for your own stupidity and jealousy." He turned to look at Karen. The look on her face said that she was the one who would be able to kill at this moment. Keith reached out and put his hand on her arm. He was staring at his brother, but he didn't have that murderous rage on his face like she did.

"Don't, Karen." She looked at him like he was crazy before turning back to Dan. "Karen..." As he breathed her name, she felt her anger leave her and let Keith wrap his arms around her.

Lucas had watched this entire exchange with his eyes narrowed. He now glared at his father and didn't have a doubt in his mind of what the man had done. He stepped right in front of him, pulled his fist back and swung right towards Dan's face. And then he nearly fell over from momentum when his arm passed through the air like the other man wasn't even there.

"This ain't the time, Coach." Quentin was shaking his head at Lucas as the blond boy looked back with confusion on his face. "You'll get your chance but not here. Not now. You all just need to concentrate on what's going on here." They all stared at him, shell-shocked over the information they had just learned.

"Keep moving." They reluctantly followed Q again as he led them further away, back towards the gym. As they approached it, they saw Brooke come hurrying out. She leaned heavily on a pole and began to sob. She covered her mouth and tried to quiet the sound of her cries. Eventually, she sunk so she was squatting down, resting her forehead against the pole.

Brooke looked down at herself in surprise. She never let herself be weak in public. It broke all of her rules. She jumped a little when she felt a hand go in hers and turned to see Peyton looking at her. As soon as the blond saw she had Brooke's attention, she nodded her head slightly and squeezed her hand. Brooke squeezed back and looked forward.

Quentin led them past the broken girl but when they entered the gym, it wasn't what they were expecting. It was still the gym but it was obviously a day long after the one they had just witnessed. Once again the banners had years far in the future inscribed upon them and the white jersey belonging to the boy in front of them was hanging on the wall.

They were gathered a little closer to each other then they had before. They were now finding comfort in their proximity rather than unease. Dan was the exception, standing a couple feet away from the rest of them. They heard the door open on the other end but didn't want to look.

Jamie Scott walked into the gym alone. He was dressed in a suit and it looked like he had attempted to comb his hair back rather then leave it in it's normal disarray. His hands were in his pockets as he slowly moved across the room. He stopped under the the banner hanging from the ceiling with the years of Tree Hill High's state championships.

He wasn't too far away from them at that point and they could see that he was older than he had been before. Definitely out of high school, if not college as well. He stared up at the banner and let his eyes travel over the dates. Behind him, the door opened again but he didn't look behind him to see who it would be.

Four people walked into the gym, 3 women and a man, all dressed in black clothes. The people silently watching recognized them as the children they had seen not that long ago. But these children were obviously grown now and had lost the innocence and trust they had once held. They gathered around Jamie but didn't speak.

The girl they knew to be Leah stepped forward and linked her arm with his, drawing him closer to her. Her light brown hair was pulled half up as she looked at him with hazel eyes.

"Jamie, we have to get going if we're going to make it to the service on time."

He nodded almost imperceptibly but made no move to go.

"She's not coming, is she?"

He didn't even turn to look as Leah shook her head slightly. He nodded like he had expected it and focused on the banner again. Sawyer exchanged glances with Anna and stepped forward too.

"Jamie, it's okay to be upset with this but you have got to let us help you. You don't have to go through this alone."

He got a far away look in his eyes, like he was thinking about something far, far away. "I remember being little and Mom and Dad telling me that he was dead. That's my first memory of him. Being told that I would never get to meet him because he was gone before I was born. Being told that even if he hadn't died, I wouldn't have wanted to know him anyway because he was an evil man."

Anna looked at Jamie sympathetically. She was usually the one who was good with words. The one who could comfort anybody through anything. But right now, she had no idea what to say to make him feel better.

"But I found out the truth and I insisted on meeting him. At first they refused, saying they didn't trust him with me. But then he saved my life and they began to rethink it. So I got to meet my grandfather. My grandfather, the murderer. And I think even though I was only 4, I loved him because I was the only person left in this world who would. I knew how they all felt about it. My dad and Uncle Lucas especially. What I didn't understand was how somebody could survive like that, all alone in the world."

He reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out a tattered book. He flipped through the pages until he got to the point he was looking for and began to read.

"Does this darkness have a name? This cruelty? This hatred? How did it find us? Did it steal into our lives or did we seek it out and embrace it? What happened to us?" He paused, reading silently to himself before continuing. "When did we lose our way? Consumed by shadows, swallowed by darkness. Does this darkness have a name? Is it your name?" He whispered the last sentence as he let the book fall closed in his hands.

Sawyer wrapped her arms around herself and absentmindedly rubbed them. Leah just leaned her head against her brother's shoulder and sighed.

"He must have been talking about Dan, right?. In the moment he wrote this, Dan was everything that was dark and evil in his life. What does that make me when I feel the way I do? When I miss him now that he's gone?"

Scott shook his head. "Jamie, there is nothing wrong with loving him. There is nothing bad about you."

Jamie finally turned his head to look at his younger cousin. "Then tell me why this morning I made my best friend cry. I could see that she was upset and I still yelled at her until she broke down. Tell me why I said things that I could never have imagined saying to anyone, much less her. And why I told her to get out, to leave and not bother me again until she was ready to stop being a selfish bitch. Tell me why before she left, she told me that I was just like he had been. That she could see me turning out to be just like him."

Anna said, "Jamie, she knows you didn't mean any of it. This has been the hardest on you but it hasn't been easy for any of us. You have got to stop blaming yourself for these things. Maybe you shouldn't have said the things you did to her, but she'll get over it. You guys always do."

Jamie shook his head doubtfully. "Does this darkness have a name?" he muttered bitterly to himself.

"Fear." They jumped as a voice came from behind the other group. The five people in front of them had been too preoccupied with their conversation to notice her entrance from the other side of the gym. Lily was wearing a black dress and heels and her hair was pulled back away from her face.

"The darkness is fear." She looked Jamie straight in the eye as she continued. "It's what makes us cruel and lost. It's inside all of us and it consumes us and the only thing that keeps it from taking us completely is the fact that we have each other. You're scared that loving him makes you a bad person. I'm scared that having anything to do with him means I'm betraying my father." She stopped to make sure he was completely paying attention to her. "Both fears that have no truth in them."

She glanced at the banner and then back at her cousin. "I think that he was more scared than any of us. And I think that's why he did the things he did. I'm not giving him an excuse for any of it, but it does mean that maybe we can understand him better. Or at least try."

She walked over and grabbed Jamie's hand. "You forgave him years ago and when you did that, you gave him something to live for. Something to make him want to make up for his mistakes, even if that wasn't really possible. It's taken me this long, but I think I'm finally ready to do the same. I think my dad would have wanted it that way."

He looked down at her and nodded. "Okay," was all he said to her. He let go of her hand so that he could wrap his arm around her and pull her closer. She crossed her arms in front of her and let herself lean into him. Together the six of them looked up again.

Jamie's eyes traveled from the year his grandfather brought the Ravens to their championship to the next line. He smiled a little at the large gap it took for the Scott brothers to bring this team back to it's former glory. Then he looked at the last line up there, his graduating year. At least he kept up with the tradition.

"I really hate to break this up, but we're definitely going to be late and we should probably leave now if we don't want to miss the entire thing." Jamie sighed at Sawyer's words but nodded and started to walk. As they went towards the door, she added, "Plus, I definitely heard Jenny saying something about _comforting_ you tonight after the funeral to try and make you feel better, hot shot."

Jamie reached over and pushed the blond girl as the other four made various noises of disgust. They could always count on her to break the tension. Despite himself, he grinned a little.

Behind them, the group stood in silence. They looked at Q expectantly, waiting for him to say something or lead them somewhere new. Instead he just looked back at them, with his cheeky smirk back in place.

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**Hope you all enjoyed it. Please review. It really does help motivate me when I write :-)**


	10. Chapter 9

**Hey, guys. Sorry it's taken me so long to update. It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Anyway, I don't own anything. Hope you enjoy and don't forget to review!**

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The group continued to stare at Quentin for what seemed like forever. Finally, he started to chuckle.

"What are you laughing at?" Haley asked with the annoyance evident in her voice.

Quentin just shook his head and kept laughing. After a few seconds, he looked at them again with the same smirk still on his face.

"You all look like you seen a ghost."

All they could do was gape at him. This just made him start laughing again.

"How can you be laughing right now?" Lucas asked angrily. "People are going to die. Good people." He just glared at the boy when he got no response.

Quentin shrugged, the laughing still bubbling out of him even though it appeared that he was trying to hold it in.

"I'm sorry. It's just, you all crying about something that ain't even happened yet."

"What did you expect us to do? We can't all laugh it off like it's no big deal like you," Brooke shot at him sarcastically.

He grinned at her. "Well, it seems to me that if I was you, I would want to make whatever time I had left, good. Not spend it a hot mess like you all seem to want to do."

"You can't just spring something like that on us and expect us to be okay!" Haley said with her voice raised.

"Listen, I don't mean any disrespect, Ms. JS, but when we first met, before we was tight and all, I didn't really like you much. I thought you was hot but that's about as far as it went for me. Then you said something to me in class one day. Said that our lives were starting right then, were being shaped right then. At the time, I didn't listen to you cause I didn't really care what you had to say. But then I thought about it. And I realized you was right. So I decided to be a good boy and go along with what you wanted me to do so I could play ball. But then I thought about it again and realized that I care about what you had said. Right about that time me and Nate started working on the come back and I met J Luke. And I'm not gonna lie when I say you're family helped me be a better person, see the bigger picture, or however it goes. So now I'm gonna tell you the same thing you told me. Your lives are starting right now. Right now. And you can choose to whine and bitch about what you all seen. Or you can be sad about it for a little and then move on. But either way, times a wasting and there's more for you to see." Quentin stopped to gauge their reactions. "So what's it gonna be?"

No one said anything to him. They looked at each other unsurely. Haley looked at Lucas and for a minute it seemed like they were talking silently. He nodded slightly causing her to turn back to Quentin with a determined look on her face.

"That's what I thought. Come on then. We got places to be." He went to walk away but then turned back to look at Lucas. "You know you changed a lot of lives when you walked off that Rivercourt and into this gym."

Lucas squinted at Quentin. "What do you mean?"

Q shrugged in response and gestured to them. "Look around you. You all seen some of what's gonna happen. You think it would have been possible if it weren't for you?"

Lucas could feel his mouth gaping open but couldn't get his thoughts together enough to answer. Keith jumped in after seeing his nephew's distress.

"It's not his fault any of that happened. You can't blame him for that."

Quentin just shook his head. "Nah, man. That's not what I mean. I'm only saying that if it weren't for him, none of you would be getting to where you need to be. And if it weren't for you," he nodded to Keith, "Luke never would've been able to do that."

Keith didn't respond. He knew that what the boy was saying was right. He was a firm believer in fate and had known that taking Whitey to the see Luke play was something he had to do.

"Have any of you ever been able to look at one moment in your life and say 'that's when my life changed.' Didn't have to be better or worse. Just different. Different in ways that could never be taken back." Quentin searched all their faces, trying to see their reaction. Finally he smiled, "Well, if you ain't, then you're about to. Your lives aren't the only thing that are gonna change. You all are gonna change, too. And some of you are going to end up completely different people."

None of them could object to his statement. They could obviously see that what he was saying was true. At this point, Quentin had reached the end of the gym and walked through the double doors. They followed his timidly expecting to be in to the locker room, only when they stepped through the doorway, they were outside of Lucas's house. Right in front of them, Brooke and Lucas were walking towards a small blue car parked on the street with their arms around one another. Mouth was sitting in the trunk of the car while Skills and Nathan stood behind him passing him bags to load in. Peyton and Haley were standing near the driver's side door. The group just listened as they watched what would one day be their future.

"Hey, does anybody know anything about this place we're going to?" questioned Haley.

Peyton answered, "All Rachel said is that it's some kind of cabin."

Brooke tilted her head back and stomped her foot a little. "Does Rachel really have to come? Can't we just leave her?"

"Considering it's her family's place, I don't really think we have an option." Brooke rolled her eyes at the incredulous look she received from Peyton.

As Luke patted Brooke on the head, she said, "I'm just saying, think about it." Right then a black SUV pulled up next to them.

"It's that slutty red head!" young Brooke said. She added, "What is Bevin doing with her?" with a territorial edge in her voice.

"Hey, party people," the girl said from the driver's seat.

Bevin called out from the passenger side to Skills, "Hey, baby. You ready to conquer the great outdoors?"

The boy hesitated before answering, "If you say so."

"Skills," Lucas grunted as he threw the other boy his bag.

Nathan looked over the car at him and said, "Didn't sound very enthusiastic."

From inside the car, Bevin answered for him. "Yeah, Skills isn't really the outdoor type."

Peyton laughed and tried to reassure him. "That's okay. Pete isn't either and he's still gonna try to meet us out there."

"Whose Pete?" asked Haley.

"Fall Out Boy," answered Brooke, sending Peyton a smirk. "He's Peyton's imaginary friend."

"Brooke, he's not imaginary. You saw us together at the concert."

"And now he loves you." Brooke taunted her as she threw Peyton's luggage in the back of the car. "Wasn't it nice of Pete to put your bag in the car?" Everyone except the blond girl started laughing at Brooke's statement.

"You guys, he's coming," Peyton whined."

"Hey, you know what," Skills pointed at Peyton. "Kanye rolling through too." Everyone started laughing again. Mouth helped Skills pick up the biggest suitcase up and shove it into the car.

When it became clear that the thing wasn't going to fit, Bevin called out, "Skills, we're only going to be gone for two nights. What is in that thing?"

"Look, baby. If I'm gonna be in the middle of the woods, I need all my stuff. CD. DVD. MP3. My pillow." He rubbed his suitcase fondly.

As they started to laugh again, Peyton said, "Wait wait wait. You know we're not staying in the woods. There's a cabin."

The red head added, "Think less rustic," from the road.

Skills just nodded at her and said, "How much less rustic?" as he tried to get the trunk to close. As the whole group started laughing again, the other group began to talk between themselves.

Young Skills looked at the people in front of him in confusion. "Wait, hold up. Me and that cheerleader?"

"Me and Pete Wenz?" Peyton said with her eyebrows raised.

"Am I the only person seeing us being all buddy buddy with the slutty redhead?!" demanded Brooke.

Luke smiled at Skills and commented, "Looks like some things don't change about you." The other boy just glared at him.

Quentin laughed. "You all starting to see what I mean. All the stuff that happens, it's what brings you together." He started backing towards the house, still talking to them. "You'd all be surprised at how close some of you get." He led them back up the walkway and through the front door.

As they passed through, they found themselves outside at night. "Hey, this is our house," Nathan said, looking up at the large structure in front of them. They could hear the music playing on the inside and through the sheer window curtains they could all see the masses of people moving.

The front door opened and a different Nathan walked out. His hair was longer and he had an easy smile on his face.

"Hey, where's the new boyfriend?" he called out. The group looked to see who he was talking to and saw Brooke sitting on a bench not far from them. Her legs were crossed and she had a guy's green jacket on.

As Nathan came over and straddled the bench besides her, Brooke said, "Taking a break. When all you do is kiss, you gotta come up for air once in awhile."

"He seems like a really good guy, Chase."

"Yeah, he is." She paused and smiled to herself. "I really like him."

"Good." Nathan looked down at his lap.

Brooke got a guilty look on her face as she started to say something. "Um, listen. I'm really sorry about Haley and the whole tutor center thing."

"Don't be sorry. It's not like it was your fault."

Brooke looked down with another weird look on her face. "Yeah." She looked at the house next to them and changed the subject. "So, how come you're not in there enjoying your big party?"

Nathan glanced towards the house and smiled. "Well, Skills broke out the old Ravens game footage." He looked at Brooke and shook his head, laughing and she made a noise of understanding. "I swear when I watch it, it doesn't even feel like me."

Brooke widened her eyes and gave him a look. "I should hope not. You were such a jerk!" She stopped to let her meaning sink in. "You were dating Peyton. You guys fought all the time."

Nathan cut her off. "Hey! Look whose talking." Brooke closed her mouth and just looked at him. "Are you ever gonna let Peyton off the mat?"

Brooke nodded and looked away once again. "Yeah. I guess it's about time, isn't it?"

Nathan looked in the opposite direction of the house and the back with a small smirk on his face. "Yeah, actually. It is." Brooke wrinkled her forehead at him as he added, "Don't move."

"Why?" Her entire faced filled with confusion as he got up and walked away from her. He looked down at his watch and Brooke began to look around her. "Nathan, what's going on?"

The boy just sighed and shrugged. "The sprinklers."

"What?!" Brooke's face turned completely serious. Just then, the sprinklers started squirting and began to soak her. She quickly got up and ran towards Nathan. "You think you're funny? You are so dead!" She chased him around the yard and pushed him, knocking him to the ground where he started laughing.

He got up quickly and picked her up saying, "Oh, I gotcha! I gotcha!" He spun around a couple of times before slowing. When he put her down, they continued chasing each other and laughing. Behind them, the group was left to watch the pair.

"Since when did you two get so close?"

Brooke looked at Peyton in disbelief. She was speechless for a minute before she answered. "You're seriously getting pissed about that when we all already know you cheat with my boyfriend? More than once?"

"Yeah and why are you getting mad? I'm pretty sure he's with me at that point." Haley added, looking at Peyton.

Brooke looked at Haley and nodded. "Yeah!"

"So, since when did you two get so close?" Haley asked the brunette.

Brooke just looked at Haley in disbelief. "Really?" she questioned as Peyton tried to keep the small smile off of her face.

Quentin stepped between them. "You two obviously not getting this. You're supposed to be understanding how you all start being friends. A different kind of friends then you are now. Not fighting over what you done wrong to each other." He start to walk away towards the large house next to them. Brooke raised her eyebrows at Peyton as they followed the boy. The blond just rolled her eyes before nodding. They walked up the stairs to the front of the house and inside the front door.

When they walked through the doorway, they were outside in the middle of night once again. They looked up and saw a hugh billboard covered by Dan's face.

"You run for mayor?" Deb asked incredulously.

"Who the hell would vote for a murderer?" Karen said right after her.

Dan didn't answer them, instead just looking at the sign in front of him with a wild look on his face. He turned his head to distract himself when he heard noises coming from the opposite direction.

Deb and Karen were walking down the road dressed head to toe in black and carrying a ladder. They were both a little out of breathe and briefly set their load down to rest for a minute. Soon after Deb looked back at Karen and said, "Ready?"

Karen hesitated. "Deb, I don't know if we should. What if we get caught?"

"Karen! Quit being so responsible."

"I can't help it! That's who I am!" the dark haired woman answered.

"Oh, well not according to Dan's campaign commercial. You know, the one that makes you look psychotic?" Karen glared at the other woman. "Besides, it's harmless fun. We'll paint a mustache on him. Some black teeth." She gave Karen a look. "You said you wanted to do this."

"Well, yeah. That's when I was stuck in construction traffic staring at his fat face." She scowled angrily up at the man on the sign before looking back at Deb. "Now, I'm chicken."

Deb stubbornly said, "Fine! But I'm going up. And tomorrow when you're stuck in traffic, you're gonna wish you had joined me." She began to drag the ladder away by herself.

Karen rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine!" she said as she ran forward to pick up the other end. "I can't believe I'm doing this."

Watching them walk away and continue to bicker between themselves, Quentin began to laugh. He looked between Nathan and Lucas and snorted at them. "And everyone wonders how you two ended up being the way you are." The boys exchanged glances before looking at their respective mothers.

Keith grinned at Karen and said, "I can't believe you become a criminal. Vandalizing public property." She rolled her eyes and smacked him lightly on the chest.

Quentin watched their exchange before starting to walk back the way they had come. He walked past them and as they turned around they felt the air around them shift. When it resettled they were in the entryway of an apartment.

There was a knock on the door and they heard someone walking towards them. When they looked, they saw Mouth coming over to answer it. He pulled it open and on the other side stood Brooke.

"Wine delivery from New York City," she said jokingly holding up a bottle of wine. As she lowered her arm, Mouth broke out in a grin.

"Wow. I called for that wine two years ago. Get in here!" He jerked his head backwards to tell her to come in. She ran in and they embraced in the entryway. "Come on," he added as he closed the door behind her.

"I've miss you so much, Mouth!"

The group didn't get to hear the man's response as Quentin started walking them towards an open doorway next to them. They quickly followed Q into an unfamiliar bedroom. On the bed besides them, Mouth was sprawled on his back with Brooke laying next to him. They could tell it was the next morning since sunlight was streaming through the windows and both of them were in the same clothes as they had been in the night before. Each had one of their hands on the empty wine bottle laying between them.

"Yeah, dog!" Skills was grinning at the Mouth standing next to him. The boy just shook his head in disbelief and looked at Brooke nervously. She looked back at him with one eyebrow raised.

"We get together?" Peyton elbowed Brooke and shot her a look. "I mean no offense or anything, it's just you're not really my...type."

"I don't think we...I mean we both have all our clothes on..." Mouth trailed off, not really knowing what to say.

Before Brooke could answer, the bedroom door creaked open and a shirtless Skills snuck into the room.

"Man, this just keeps getting better!" Skills laughed as he watched the older version of himself carefully slide into bed next the Brooke. She shifted away from him slightly as he raised a camera over them. When the flash went off, she woke up startled, pulling her hand away from the bottle.

As she sat up and looked around herself, confused, Skills grinned up at her. "Well, imagine that. Brooke Davis."

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Like 8:30."

"Oh, no." They watched as Brooke panicked, rolling over Mouth in order to get up and causing him to wake up suddenly. "I told Haley I'd take Jamie." She struggled to get her shoes on before rushing out of the room. As she left, Mouth sat up and looked at Skills on the bed next to him.

"That was some wild night, baby."

Mouth ignored him and said, "What time is it?"

"Like 8:30."

Mouth's eyes widened. "Oh, no. I'm late for work." He quickly got up and rushed out of the room. Skills just giggled and lifted the camera again to take another picture.

"So we become friends?" Brooke directed her question to Quentin but looked at Mouth, who shrugged nervously. "I guess things really do change," she muttered. Q just looked between then and shrugged.

"Ain't that what it's all about though? Finding those people you never thought you would know and figuring out they bring out the best in you? Yeah, times are gonna suck sometimes but at least you all had each other. At least you're not gonna be alone." Quentin glanced at Dan but continued to walk towards the bedroom door.

The first thing they saw when they passed the entryway was red. Peyton glanced around in confusion. "This is my room."

Brooke raised an eyebrow. "I would say I like what you've done with the place but..." She trailed off and looked at the wall behind her. "Oh, my god, Peyton." The blond spun around to see what she was looking at and felt her eyes widen at the amount of records being stored on the wall.

"Where did you get all those?" asked Nathan. Peyton just shrugged. She had a lot of albums but nothing compared to the rows and rows that now filled her bedroom wall, along with her closet.

They heard footsteps coming up the stairs and immediately forgot what they had just been talking about. An older Peyton walked into the room, laughing with Skills, who followed behind her.

"Okay, so check it out. What I need is an off the hook hip-hop jam with a real easy beat to follow."

"Okay," Peyton answered unsurely as she began shifting through the records on the wall.

"So how everything going with you and Lucas? I mean you happy?"

Peyton looked at him and smiled as she nodded. "I'm happy." She pulled an album off the shelf in front of her.

"That's my girl. You know love sometimes don't really make sense. I mean look at me and Bevin." Peyton laughed as Skills pointed at her. "You two make sense." She looked away, embarrassed.

"Okay, Track number two on this. It's gonna treat you right," she said, trying to change the subject.

"Aw so you done went old school on me. I like that."

She just grinned at him as she took the album out of it's case. "So what do you guys need this music for anyway?"

Skills thought for a moment before answering. "Well, me and Nathan...Let's just say we entered a dance contest."

"Wait, Nathan Scott?" Skills just nodded as Peyton stared at him with a disbelieving look. "No way. What aren't you telling me?" She placed her hands on his shoulders and waited for him to answer.

Skills rolled his eyes and looked around the room before he said, "Let's just say you gotta show some skin in order to win."

"You guys are stripping?" Peyton yelled as she pulled away from him. She got a big smile on her face. "Shut up! Please can I tell Lucas?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Better than that. Why don't you tell some girls? The way he move, we gonna need all the home cooking we can get." Peyton just laughed and went back to putting the record on.

Quentin started to laugh a he began to walk out of the room. "You know, I would've gave anything to see Nate dance like that." He shook his head as he led them to their next destination. Peyton shook her head.

"Nathan can't dance to save his life. It's really not something anyone would want to see," Peyton replied t Quentin's statement.

The boy in question raised his eyebrows at Peyton. "What?" she asked. "Don't act like I'm telling some big secret. Anybody whose seen you dance know what I'm talking about."

He didn't have a chance to retort as they walked through the open doorway. Once again they were in a bedroom, though this time it wasn't Peyton's. On the bed in the middle of the room, they could see a lump underneath the covers. Quentin ushered them past him and closed the door behind them. They stood on the far side of the bed and looked around the room. There were picture frames on most of the surfaces and they soon figured out that it had to be Brooke's room they were in. All of the photos were of her and the people who were important to her.

Young Brooke walked over to the side of the table and picked up the white frame that was sitting there. She looked at the man in the picture and held it up. "Do you think this is Julian?"

Peyton went to take a closer look, but stopped when she heard the bedroom door click open. Brooke hurriedly put the frame back down as an older Haley snuck into the room. She had a birthday bag in one hand and was carrying a second brown paper bag in her other.

She placed them both on the floor to the right of the bed and tried to hold back her smile. It looked like she was debating something in her mind as she bit her lip and looked at the lump on the bed.

"What am I doing?"

Brooke looked at the other girl and answered, "I don't know but I'm pretty sure that this is my room so that would make the person under those covers me. And I'm a little worried to see where this is going."

On the other side of the room, Haley got a satisfied look on her face and walked over to the bed. She kicked her shoes off quietly and silently counted to herself. They saw her put up one finger at a time and mouth, "1...2...3"

"Happy Birthday!" she yelled as she jumped on the bed. Brooke shot up from under the covers with a scream and looked around wildly. When she saw it was Haley on the bed next to her she placed a hand on her chest and glared at her.

"What the hell are you doing here, Haley?"

Haley grinned at her. "Well, since it's your birthday and Julian had to be away for it I decided to come over and help you celebrate."

"By giving me a heart attack?" Brooke shut her eyes and tried to slow her breathing. "I mean, hi! Girl who got viciously attacked right here. Not really good with the whole surprises thing."

Haley's eyes widened as she took actually started to take in Brooke's panic. "Oh, my god. Brooke, I'm sorry. I wasn't even thinking."

Brooke just shook her head and waved her hand at Haley. "It's okay. Really. It's the thought that counts. And I think my heart's starting to go back to normal now." She squeezed her eyes shut and turned to smile at Haley when she opened them again. "So besides trying to scare me to death and remind me of my utter loneliness on my birthday, what did you mean by celebration?"

Haley rolled her eyes and looked around the room. "Well, I know you and Peyton usually do that whole shoplifting thing on your birthday so I was thinking maybe we could go shopping. And then later we can go back to my house for dinner. Jamie's really excited to give you his present."

Brooke smiled. "God, I love that boy."

Haley nodded. "Yeah, I'm sort of partial to him." They both laughed before she continued, "Then I was thinking maybe we go out? To Tric or somewhere else. Nathan asked Deb to come over to stay with Jamie so you get us to yourself all night."

Brooke shook her head a little with a smile on her face. "You guys don't have to do all that. I would be perfectly content with just staying here and eating ice cream all day, thinking about the lack of birthday sex I will be having later."

Haley shot her a look. "No! I'm not letting you wallow today. You're going to have fun whether you like it or not."

The brunette laughed as she rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, Tutor Mom." She thought for a minute before grinning. "Shopping, huh?"

Haley nodded and squinted at her. "Oh, yeah." They both laughed. "Oh, I almost forgot. Quinn sent something for you but she told me not to open it until I was with you." She reached down next to the bed and picked up the brown paper bag.

Brooke took it and unrolled the top, holding it open so they could both peer inside.

"Brownies?" Haley said with wide eyes. "You don't think they're..."

Brooke shrugged and reached inside. "Only one way to find out." She pulled one out and bit into it, closing her eyes and making a noise of contentment.

"Brooke!" Haley half shouted.

"What?" Her mouth was full as she answered.

"Do you really want to be _high_," Haley whispered the word as if someone were eavesdropping on their conversation, "on your birthday?"

The other woman just shrugged. "Whatever. I figure we eat these now they wear off by the time we have to go to dinner. Not a big deal, Hales." She reached into the bag and pulled two more out. She places one on her leg and bit into the other one. "Either you eat that or I will." She nodded to the baked good on her knee.

Haley hesitated. "I don't know, Brooke. That night was crazy. I've never seen you so paranoid."

"And I've never seen you eat so much. So just eat it. There might not even be anything in there."

Haley picked it up. "Yeah, but what about the placebo effect." Brooke gave her a blank stare. "You know, where you trick someone into thinking they're taking medicine when it's really not medicina and they start to feel better anyway. If we think something's in them then we'll act like there was something in them."

Brooke rolled her eyes as she chewed. "Okay, Teacher Mom. It's my birthday. My boyfriend slash sort of fiance is halfway around the world. My best friend is god knows where with one of my other closest friends. The only other person I would want to spend today with is you. And here we are. Maybe it's a sign that we're meant to eat every single brownie in this bag."

Haley just sighed and picked up her brownie. She bit into it and sighed again, this time in content. "I always forget how good these are." She paused. "I guess Taylor was good for one thing growing up." They both laughed and then quieted down for a minute.

"Did you ever think we would end up here?"

Haley looked Brooke in the eye. "Sitting in your bed on your birthday eating 'special brownies'?"

The dark-haired woman shook her head. "No, I mean like here. You 25 and married with a 7 year old. Part-time rock star. Part time teacher. Me turning 26. Not married. No kids. Owner of successful fashion line."

Haley shook her head as she reached into the bag for another brownie. "You're Brooke Davis. You're a famous fashion icon. You have an amazing guy who loves you and worships the ground you walk on. Maybe we're not exactly where any of us pictured being but I sort of like it here."

Brooke nodded. "Yeah, me too. I bet you never thought you would end up friends with me, either." She grinned and winked at Haley.

"Oh, no. Ever since that night that you passed from out from painkillers in the back of your car and Peyton and I had to walk to the nearest gas station because you conveniently left it on E, I knew we were going to be super close," she answered sarcastically.

"Ha Ha. I know that night was not my shining moment, but I think it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

"You called me Brooke all night because you said you didn't like my name."

Brooke laughed, embarrassed. "Again, I'll say that was not my best night but still, I'm glad it happened. I was even more glad when you made it through the Sparkle Classic without knocking someone over or killing yourself."

This time it was Haley who was embarrassed. She didn't answer until she thought of something that made her smile. "You know, if it weren't for you fixing Nathan and I's relationship, we probably never would have gotten married and had Jamie."

"Yeah, but if it wasn't for me, there never would have been anything to fix." She mulled over the events that seemed so long ago yet at the same time like they were yesterday. "God, I was such a mess that night."

Haley nodded slightly and said, "But you have to admit if you hadn't been a drunk bitch, Lucas and Peyton probably never would have gotten through their awkward sexual tension phase."

Brooke let out a loud laugh and shook her head. "I am so glad I'm not the only person that thought they were like that!" Haley nodded in agreement as she kept laughing. "You should have seen how edgy they were just being in the same room with each other whenever the squad had to share the gym with the team."

Haley laughed even louder. "I wish I could have. I thought it was bad when I caught them making out on the swing at Nathan's."

Brooke smiled. "You wanna talk about tension. You should have been there when I walked in on them in his room awhile after the championship. Or the hotel room in Honeygrove. Neither of those moment was not pleasant."

Haley had gotten a serious look on her face. "You know, Brooke. You're an amazing person. You've come so far since we were in high school."

Brooke clapped her hand down on Haley's and squeezed it. "Thank you, Tutor girl. You've come pretty far, too. Raising a baby while going to college and dealing with all Nathan's crap. You have much more patience than I ever gave you credit for."

They say like this for a minute before Haley looked at the bag in between them. "You think they have anything in them?"

Brooke just shrugged her shoulders and threw back the covers. "I don't know but I'm going to go get ready. We have shopping to do!" She walked out of the room.

Haley laid back on the bed and yelled, "Okay, good. Cause you had a weird mixture of morning breathe and chocolate going on whenever you opened your mouth."

Brooke yelled something none of them could hear from the bathroom. They watched as Haley peered into the bag again and squinted her eyes. She reached in and pulled another brownie out. After staring at it for a minute she shrugged and took a bite.

The group standing on the other side of the room heard they water in the bathroom go on as Haley closed her eyes where she was laying. Quentin began to make his way out of the bedroom. When they stepped out of the door, they found themselves into the middle of an empty club. Karen was standing behind the bar in the middle of the room while Deb, Peyton, and Brooke were sitting right in front of her with their backs to the group.

Deb had a plastic cup in front of her and was leaning on her crossed arms. "I miss Nathan."

Karen nodded her head a little in agreement and responded, "I miss Keith."

Peyton was peeling a lime as she added, "I miss Jake."

Brooke had her hand on a water bottle as she shook her head a little. "I don't really miss Felix at all. Or my parents that much. But I miss my money." She sighed at the end of her sentence as the other three laughed at what she had said.

"Who is Felix? And what exactly happens to my money?" the other Brooke asked, panicking a little. Peyton just shot her a look and looked back towards the bar.

Deb was saying, "You know what I always do when I need to feel better?"

Brooke answered, "Drink?" Peyton and Karen both looked at her with the same exasperated look the younger Peyton had just given the younger Brooke but didn't say anything.

"No." She stood up from her stool. "Dance."

"What?"

Deb headed towards the stereo sitting near the group as Nathan watched his mother warily. At the bar, Brooke was looking at Karen and Peyton with a confused look on her face. Deb shut the CD cover and waiting a second for the music to start to begin dancing slowly. In the group, Nathan closed his eyes and shook his head. He muttered under his breath, "God, Mom." He turned to look the woman standing next to him with a glare on his face. She just shrugged and looked away towards the other four.

Peyton, Brooke and Karen had all started to laugh as Deb began to move to the rhythm of the music. They laughed louder when she ran towards them and urged them to get up. Both of the younger girls got up reluctantly with half-meant excuses but as soon as they started dancing, they got into it.

Karen watched them dance for a minute before Deb called over to her, "Come on, Karen. Dance to my divorce."

Peyton was moving her hips as she gestured for Karen to join them. "Come on! Come on! the teenager urged.

"Oh, hell. I can dance to that." She walked around the bar and went to join them. As the four of them danced, the group just watched them. Karen was the first to start laughing and was soon joined by Deb. Brooke and Peyton glanced at each other and both joined them. It wasn't long before the only person who wasn't at least smiling was Dan. He just stared at the people surrounding him.

Quentin was laughing too as he started walking again. The group reluctantly followed him out of the front doors of the club, glancing back to watch the women dance. They stopped just short of the door they all knew they would be going through soon.

"The thing that's gonna change your lives the most are the mini-me's. When they start getting popped out, you all start getting reality checks. Priorities shift and for the first time in your lives, you not putting yourselves first anymore." With that Quentin pulled the door open and walked through it, leading them to whatever they were supposed to see next.

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	11. Chapter 10

**Here's the next chapter. I don't own anything. Enjoy!**

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When they walked through the doors, they found themselves entering the kitchen of Lucas and Karen's house. Peyton was standing at the sink washing dishes while three girls sat at the table behind her. Two were blond and obviously younger than the third, darker haired girl. None of them were speaking, but instead looked like they were lost in their own world. The woman in the room with them turned around and looked at them as she finished what she was doing.

Anna was sitting on her chair swinging her legs as she rested her head on her arms. She had a pink dress on and white flip flops. Her wavy hair was half pulled back and half loose on her shoulders. Sawyer was sitting next to her with her head propped up on one hand and the other pushing stray grains of salt around on the table. She was wearing a white skirt that fell right about her knee and a dark green tank top. She had her tight curls clipped back messily. Next to her was Lily, who was sitting back in her chair with her arms crossed and a disgruntled look on her face. She has on jean shorts and a purple t-shirt with her hair pulled back in a pony tail.

"Okay, Aunt Brooke should be here any minute but Aunt Haley and Leah aren't getting here for awhile. Is there anything you wanna do while we wait for them?" None of them said anything. Peyton lifted one eyebrow and muttered to herself. "Okay, then." She looked at them to see if any of them was going to answer her. When it became apparent they were ignoring her, she said, "Hey!" loudly enough to make them jump.

The three girls just looked at her. "What is wrong with you guys? You were all grouchy last night. All you did was mope during breakfast and now you don't want to do anything?" They all just shrugged and went back to what they had been doing before.

Before Peyton had a chance to say anything else, Brooke burst through the door with her arms full of bags. She breathlessly set them down on the floor and looked at Peyton. "Hey, best friend!"

Peyton grinned at her and said, "Hi." She nodded her head towards the table, wordlessly telling her to talk to the children.

Brooke looked at them and said, "Hey, girls!"

They chorused, "Hi, Aunt Brooke" unenthusiastically and didn't look up at her.

Brooke looked at Peyton with a confused look. "What's wrong with them?" she mouthed at the blond. Peyton just shrugged and widened her eyes. She nodded her head at them again, as if to tell Brooke to figure it out. "Shouldn't you guys be excited? It's Friday and you have off from school. And we're have a girl's weekend!"

When she got no response she raised an eyebrow and got a determined look on her face. She walked towards the girls and sat at the table. The first one she focused on was Anna. "Hey, Anna Beth! What's up?"

The little girl looked up and shrugged. "Nothing," she sighed. Brooke nodded and turned to Sawyer.

"S. Scott. What about you?"

Sawyer mimicked her sister, not even bothering to look at the woman across from her. "Nothing." Brooke nodded with a slightly annoyed look. She turned to Lily.

"What about you, Lils? I'm guessing you're not gonna say anything, either?" The dark haired girl shook her head.

"Nothing."

Brooke nodded and shot Peyton a look. The blond pulled the other woman into the hallway leading to the kitchen and began whispering. "I know! They've been this way ever since I picked them up from Karen and Andy's yesterday. Usually they'll get in bad moods and then one of the other ones will make them laugh and then it's over. But they're all in bad moods. Nothing I've said has worked. I tried taking them for ice cream and letting them stay up past their bedtimes. But nothing matter. It's like they're feeding off each other's attitudes!"

Brooke wrinkled her forehead and glanced back into the kitchen. When she turned back, Peyton was relieved to see the determined look back in place. "You know, P. Sawyer. Maybe you're being too easy on them. You always have been a pushover."

"Okay, that's it!" The girls looked up with slightly surprised looks as Brooke strutted back into the room. "Either you tell us what's wrong or you're not going today. Peyton and I will go with Aunt Haley and Leah to the zoo and leave you here with Uncle Junk and Uncle Fergie."

She looked at the three girls, trying to gauge their reaction. Lily squinted at Brooke. "You wouldn't do that. You don't even like the zoo. You were going to pay Anna to pretend to be sick after a half hour so you could leave early with her. Plus, Uncle Junk and Uncle Fergie probably already have stuff to do today."

Brooke just stared at her for a minute. Peyton crossed her arms at Brooke and raised her eyebrow. Brooke could see the blond glaring from the corner of her eye and cleared her throat.

"I love the zoo." She exaggerated her sentence before continuing. "And do you really want to test me? I can always call Aunt Rachel." Lily showed no signs of fear the the threatening tone in the woman's voice.

They stared at each other for a minute as Peyton watched them, trying to keep the smile off her face. Their standoff went on for a minute before Anna sighed and raised her head off the table.

"Okay, I really want to go to the zoo so I'll tell you." Anna paused to let out an over-exagerated sigh before continuing. "Yesterday, stupid Connor Ryans was making fun of Leah at recess so I gave her Mr. Beary to make her happy and then he started to make fun of me and said I was a baby because I brought a stuffed animal to school and that I should still be in preschool with the rest of the babies. Then I pushed him and Miss Julie made me go in time out and I forgot to to get Mr. Beary back before Grandma Karen picked me up. So I was lonely when I was trying to go to sleep last night but Mommy and Daddy's door was closed so I knew I'm wasn't allowed to go in unless it's a really big emergency so I went in Sawyer's bed but she moves around a lot and kept kicking me on accident."

Brooke looked at Peyton with her eyebrows raised and a small smirk. Peyton looked away embarrassed and went over to where Anna was sitting. Squatting in front of the girl she said, "Baby, don't listen to that boy. Just because you bring Mr. Beary with you doesn't mean you shouldn't be in kindergarten. You know, when Jamie was your age, he used to wear a cape to school and people picked on him too."

Anna looked up. "Really? What did he do?"

Peyton answered, "He walked away. He didn't let what that other boy said bother him and eventually they became friends." Anna looked at her mom with a doubtful look on her face.

"And you know you're a very good cousin for giving Leah your bear but you know you shouldn't push people. It's not nice." Anna looked down at the table.

"I know... He just made me really really mad. I promise I won't do it again." She opened her arms and wrapped her arms around Peyton's neck. Brooke smiled a little and turned her attention to Sawyer. One down. Two to go.

"What about you, Ms Sawyer. Wanna tell us what's bothering you?" Brooke knew the older girl loved the zoo and would do anything to go there.

Sawyer let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine." She drug out the word and stopped. "Charlie Mason tried to kiss me yesterday at recess." When she got no response from either of them, she started to get angry. "He tried to kiss me! And when I wouldn't let him, he chased me around the recess yard." She made a disgusted face. "He tried to kiss me!"

Peyton raised her eyebrows. "He really tried to kiss you?" Sawyer nodded emphatically and looked between them.

"I don't even like boys! They're gross."

Brooke really did laugh this time. "Well, you know one day you are going to like boys. Just remember they should always chase you. Not the other way around."

Sawyer glared up at Brooke. "I will never like boys. No one except Daddy. And Jamie and Scottie. And Uncle Nathan. And Uncle Skills and Uncle Mouth." Her brow began to get more and more concentrated as she kept naming people.

Peyton laughed. "Don't worry, Sawyer. Boy aren't that bad. I used to not like them. Most girls don't like boys at some point in their life. Or a lot of points." She murmured the last sentence to herself.

Sawyer looked at the blond. "Really?" Peyton nodded and the girl turned to the other woman. "Did you ever not like boys, Aunt Brooke?"

Before Brooke could answer, Peyton snorted. "Aunt Brooke always loved boys. But she always was a little weird, even when we were little." Brooke glared at her friend before responding to Sawyer.

"I didn't like boys for a little while but then I figured out they're okay. And one day you will too."

Sawyer just looked doubtful as Peyton looked over at Lily, who was still leaning back in her chair. "Well, Lil, you're the only one left. What's wrong with you?"

The dark haired girl glanced at Brooke and lifted her head before answering. She sighed reluctantly. "I don't understand why I wasn't allowed to go with the boys!"

Brooke raised her eyebrows. "What? You never even said you wanted to go."

Lily sighed and rolled her eyes. "Well, I told Jamie. But they were all talking about it being a stupid guys weekend and then Aunt Haley was so excited about girl's weekend and I felt bad saying I would rather go with them."

Peyton shook her head. "None of us thought you would be upset about it. But you've been to a bunch of games before and you can go next time. Plus, you love the zoo."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I know that. But every game is different. The zoo is the same every time."

Brooke wrinkled her forehead. "You also have fun every other time. You can go to the next game. Today's going to be lots of fun. Come on, girls' weekend!"

The girl just shook her head slightly and sighed. Peyton put Anna on the ground and the girl wandered back to her seat dejectedly.

The two women looked at each other as Brooke muttered, "Look at them. Those two aren't even eight yet and they're already having boy problems. And Lily would rather go to a game then spend time with girls. Could she be anymore of a Scott?" Peyton laughed.

"Just wait till they actually start to have real problems. That's when things are really going to get crazy." Brooke nodded in agreement with the blond's statement and glanced at the girls again. Suddenly, she got an excited look on her face.

"You know what Nanny Deb once told us she always does when she's sad?" The three girls looked at her expectantly. "Dance!" She looked at Peyton and nodded excitedly. All four of them looked at her dubiously.

Brooke walked over to the CD played hanging from the bottom of the cabinet and pressed play. As the room filled with the opening chords of 'Friday, I'm in Love,' Brooke raised an eyebrow at Peyton."You and Luke fighting about The Cure again?" Peyton made a face at Brooke and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I bet that's why your door was closed last night." Peyton's jaw dropped as she swung at Brooke.

"Joking!" Brooke yelled as she grabbed the blond's hands and started moving her hips. Peyton threw her head back and laughed as she watched her best friend. Soon enough she began dancing too and gestured for the girls to do the same. None of them made any move to get up or join in.

Brooke went over to Lily and grabbed her hands, pulling her to her feet. She swung her arms back and forth as the girl resisted. Peyton went over to Anna and Sawyer and did the same. She took hold of each of their hands as she kept dancing.

Anna was the first to give in, starting to bounce up and down in a clumsy, little girl way. Sawyer looked at the two of them and started to smile a little. As she began to sway back and forth, Brooke twirled Lily forcefully, causing the girl to laugh. Soon enough, all five of them were dancing in the kitchen. Anna climbed on her chair and stood up so she could be higher up.

As the girls moved, the group watching them couldn't help but dance. It reminded them of the scene they had just witnessed in the club. The girls were all dancing in their own way, slightly off from the music. Peyton leaned over to sing to Sawyer who sang right back at her. Brooke raised her arms above her head.

They continued to dance as Quentin started walking them through the kitchen and into the next room. They passed through the doorway reluctantly and found themselves in a strange living room. There was a fire place on one side and the room led into an open kitchen. Julian was standing at the stove, cooking.

"Scott, Jamie! Come eat!" The group turned as the two boy emerged at the top of the stairs. They were a little younger than the girls had been, looking to be about 4 and 12. They were the opposite of each other with Jamie's hair short and neatly gelled up in the front while Scott's was dark and disheveled. The older boy flew down the steps, skipping the bottom 3. His young cousin came after him, mimicking his actions and jumping off the second step. They both sat at the counter as Julian put a plate in front of each of them.

"Daddy? Will you teach me how to play basketball?"

Behind them, Brooke grinned. "Future husband? Well, I can see my taste in men only improved between now and then." Peyton smiled and shook her head at her best friend but didn't respond. No one else bothered to answer her.

Julian looked down at his son unsurely. "Well, Scott. The thing is, Daddy isn't that good at basketball. Or any sport for that matter. But if you want to know how to make a movie, I would love to teach you." He grinned at the boy, hoping to have appeased him.

Scott sighed. "No, it's okay. I like watching movies. Not making them."

Jamie looked between the two. "I'll teach you how to play, SB."

"Really?" Scott immediately perked up. "Thank you! I can never learn when the girls are around because all they want to do is play with dolls and stupid stuff like that." He thought to himself for a minute before eagerly turning to his father. "Daddy, will you take us to the Rivercourt after breakfast?"

Julian just laughed and nodded as he turned to get something. Scott pumped his fist in the air and shouted, "Yes!" He turned to the older boy sitting next to him and added, "I'm really glad I have at least one boy cousin. Being around so many girls all the time get annoying."

Julian looked at the boy in disbelief. "I'm sure you won't always feel that way," he muttered.

Quentin once again began to lead them out of the kitchen and through the glass doors on the other side of the kitchen. Instead of being outside like they expected, however, they were in a classroom.

Haley was sitting at the front of the room marking papers as the students all bent over their desks. It was obvious that the woman had aged since the last time they had seen her.

The group stood to the side of Haley's desk watching her work until they heard a noise from the hallway.

"Pssst, Mom!" Haley looked up from the paper in front of her and towards the door. A girl with light brown hair was there in jeans and a light blue polo shirt, leaning against the door jam.

"We're in the middle of a test, Leah," Haley answered widening her eyes slightly.

Leah just sighed. "I know. I'm really sorry. I would have texted you but you would have yelled at me anyway. Can I sleep over Scottie's tonight?"

Haley blinked and shook her head slightly, looking confused. "I guess. I mean if it's alright with Aunt Brooke and Uncle Julian, it's fine with me."

Leah's face broke out in a smile as she resisted the urge to clap. "Thank you! Jamie and Lily are gonna pick me up after school and they'll run me home and then over there so I'll see you tomorrow!" She was gone from the doorway before Haley had a chance to say anything else.

Haley looked back at her class to see all the students staring at her. She cleared her throat but before she could tell them to get back to work, she was interrupted.

"She's lying." Sawyer was sitting a couple rows back and to the left of the classroom. Her legs were crossed as she smirked at Haley.

The woman just looked at her confused as everyone's attention turned to the blond.

Sawyer let out a little laugh and shook her head. "She's lying. Aunt Brooke had to go to New York last minute. Some fashion emergency with Grandma Victoria. And you know Uncle Julian's in LA until Sunday."

Haley started to look even more confused. "How do you know Brooke had to go to New York?"

"She texted me last night. I was supposed to go to the store after school to try some clothes on but she had to cancel on me. Scott was supposed to tell you and my dad today and ask to stay at my house but he never did. And the funny thing is, Anna asked my parents if she could stay at your house tonight."

Haley had a blank look on her face. "Leah never told me Anna was spending the night."

"That's cause she's not. They're throwing a party. Scott has an empty house until Sunday. They figured they could have people over tonight and clean up by the time Uncle Julian gets home." Sawyer was biting her lip to keep from smiling as she watched Haley begin to get angry.

"A party? They're freshmen! I don't believe... I mean... they wouldn't do that."

Sawyer shrugged. "You know how they are. Alone they're all great. Perfect angels and all that crap. Scott's all polite and Anna's sweet and Leah will do anything to help somebody. But once they're together, they get those crazy ideas and urge each other on. This is just one of those things."

Haley shook her head. "But where are they getting it?"

Sawyer bit her lip. "Lily and Jamie are getting it for them..." She trailed off at the end of her sentence, afraid to see her aunt's reaction.

Haley let out a sharp, disbelieving laugh. She was about to say something when she paused. She turned her head to look at Sawyer and narrowed her eyes.

"Who did what to you?"

Sawyer widened her eyes almost comically and tried her best to look innocent. "What do you mean? No one did anything to me. I'm just worried one of them is going to get hurt. I'm concerned for their well being" She resisted the urge to roll her eyes as her voice took on a sarcastic tone.

Haley just looked at her until Sawyer dropped the act.

"Let's just say Anna told Scott something that wasn't her place to tell and now he won't leave me alone about it."

Haley raised an eyebrow and looked at the girl questioningly.

Sawyer just looked away. "It was nothing you have to worry about. And I'm sorry Leah and Lily and Jamie had to get dragged into it but I personally cannot wait to see Anna get grounded. And Scott too. I might be more excited to see that then Anna's." She said the last sentence quietly to herself but Haley heard her anyway.

Haley was about to ask her when she remembered the class full of students watching this exchange in fascination. The kids usually tried to minimize their family ties with her in school. They didn't want people to think they were getting special treatment.

"Okay, guys. Sorry for the interruption. Get back to working on your tests." Haley looked at Sawyer and added, "You stay after class. I need to talk to you some more." Sawyer just nodded reluctantly.

As the class settled down, the group watching kept their eyes on Haley. She had looked down at the tests on her desk but it seemed like she couldn't concentrate. She shook her head slightly and muttered under her breathe, "Throwing parties when the parents are out of town? That's something she definitely did not get from me."

The teenage Haley snorted and looked at Nathan. He just wrinkled his forehead at her and said, "What?"

"Well, she's right. You know she didn't get it from me."

Brooke and Peyton laughed. Haley turned around and squinted her eyes at the brunette. "And you know, it's your son whose throwing the party. And we all know exactly where he got that from." Brooke looked like she was going to fight back for a minute but stopped when she saw Peyton looking at her with one eyebrow raised.

Quentin laughed at their reactions and started towards the door. They followed, still blaming each other for their kids' faults. When they walked out of the classroom, they were in a large living room none of them recognized. All at the same time, they stopped fighting and turned their attention to the scene in front of them.

Sawyer was sitting on the couch with a remote in her hand, trying to find something to watch. She looked like she was about 8 or 9, a little older than when she had been in the kitchen. Anna was laying upside down next to her so her head was dangling above the floor and her legs went straight along the back of the couch.

Haley was in the kitchen behind them, stirring something on the stove. They heard footsteps running towards then as Jamie ran into the room, closely followed by Lily.

"Jamie! I'm going to kill you if I catch up to you!"

They passed through the room and flew outside onto the pool deck, leaving the door open behind them.

Sawyer said to Anna, "They're never gonna grow up." Anna just giggled in repsonse.

"Stop running around guys! Someone's going to get hurt!" Haley blew out a breathe and shook her head. She glanced at the clock and then towards the front of the house as she heard a door open. Leah walked in in a pink leotard and black shorts.

"Hi!" she called out. Anna immediately waved, flipping over and scooting closer to Sawyer, leaving room for her cousin to sit next to her.

"Hi, baby. How was dance?"

Leah climbed onto the couch and knelt backwards to look at her mother. "It was okay. Ms. Reina was sick so Ms. Stacey taught class tonight so it wasn't as fun as usual."

"I'm sorry. That stinks, sweetie. Are you hungry?" Leah nodded in response and grinned at her mom. The group could see both of her front teeth missing.

"Okay. Dinner will be ready in a couple of minutes." Leah nodded at Haley and spun around to watch TV with the other two.

From the side, Lucas started to laugh and looked at the girl standing next to him. The younger version of Haley looked at him. "What's so funny?"

He just shook his head. "I remember when you knocked your teeth out when we were younger. She looks just like you did." Haley rolled her eyes at him but didn't bother to fight back. They heard the front door opened once again and Scott came running into the room. His hair was still long and messy and he had an excited look on his face.

"Hey!" he called as a general greeting as Brooke walked in behind him.

"Hi, Aunt Brooke," the three girls chorused. She said her greetings and walked over to Haley.

"So I have bad news." Haley looked up at the woman with wide eyes.

"What is it? What's wrong? Is everything okay?"

Brooke shook her head hastily and held her hands up. "Yeah, yeah. It's not that bad. It's just that Junk and Fergie both have the flu."

Haley wrinkled her forehead. "Well, that's okay. We can call someone--"

Brooke cut her off. "I already thought of that. Julian's in LA until tomorrow morning. The guys are at the away game tonight and Mouth went with them. Millie's in NY for a conference."

Haley started to say something but got distracted as Lily and Jamie ran into the room. "Hey! I said stop running! I don't feel like any hospital trips tonight." Both kids slowed down as they got closer to the two women.

"What time's Uncle Junk and Uncle Fergie getting here?" Jamie asked.

Haley just shook her head, distracted. "They're both sick. Aunt Brooke and I are trying to figure someone else to come stay with you guys."

Lily and Jamie looked at each other. After a minute they looked back towards the women and Lily said, "Why don't you just let us watch them?"

This time it was Brooke and Haley who looked at each other. "I don't know, Lil. You guys don't know how much work it is to take care of 4 kids like that."

"Come on. We're 14. We'll be fine." Brooke and Haley looked at each other again. Jamie continued, "Seriously. Just trust us. We won't do anything stupid. We promise."

Brooke shrugged. "You know, they have a point, Hales. They are 14. I'm sure they would be fine with the kids for a couple hours. It's not even going to be that long." Haley hesitated, looking back and forth between the two eager teenagers sitting in front of them. Finally, she sighed.

"Okay... But no more running in the house! You're setting a bad example for them! And don't let them stay up past their bedtime or they'll never go to sleep on time again. And absolutely no sugar. Or swimming. And you call if anything, anything at all happens."

Jamie rolled his eyes. "We know, Mom. Don't worry so much. We've got this under control. We've been watching all you with them forever." Haley just raised an eyebrow at him and laughed.

The group felt something in the air that wasn't altogether unfamiliar. It was as though time was passing as they stood there, accompanied by ringing ears and dizziness. When it finally stopped, they found themselves exactly where they had just been, only this time they're were even further into the future.

Sawyer was sitting on the sofa with her feet pulled under her. Her fine blond hair was straight and fell to right below her chin. She was flipping through channels at a rapid pace, not really watching what was on. Next to her, Anna was laying upside down so her head was hovering just about the floor and her legs were thrown over the back of the couch. The younger girl's hair had darkened slightly over the years, and reached her shoulder waves in gentle waves. Her arms were thrown over her head on the floor and she was staring at the TV.

They heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and instinctively turned to see who it would be. Jamie came running down the steps, jumping off the bottom four with Lily following right behind him. They were both older, in their mid twenties. Jamie's hair was still short and not as neat as it had been when he was younger. Lily had grown her hair long and straightened it, clipping her bangs back. The group watched as the pair ran out the doors leading onto the pool deck and disappeared from sight.

"I swear to god, Jamie, I'm going to kill you!"

On the couch Sawyer and Anna glanced at each other. "I wonder if he'll ever stop bringing Chuck up."

Sawyer snorted in agreement and said, "I wonder if they'll ever stop acting like they're 12," before turning her attention back to the TV. Behind them, the group started to look around the room. On the bookshelves on the opposite wall were a whole bunch of pictures. When they looked closer, they could see that the photos were of all of them over the years. There were one's from graduations and weddings. Birthday parties and some obviously candid moments when someone had pulled out a camera and frozen the moment. It was like watching themselves and the kids they had seen already grow up before their very eyes.

They heard the front door open and the two blonds on the couch looked up in expectation. The same young girl they had just seen in Haley's classroom, aged a couple of years, walked into the doorway with a backpack thrown over her shoulder and a suitcase in her hand. Before they could blink, Anna had rolled off the couch and was on her feet, running to meet the girl.

"Leah!" She crashed into her cousin and wrapped her arms around her. "I missed you!" She drug the last word out as she squeezed the girl. Leah returned her hug and laughed.

"It hasn't even been a full month. And we video chat pretty much every night. But I missed you too."

Anna just squeezed her tighter and replied, "I know. But it's not the same. It feels like forever." They finally released each other and Leah turned to Sawyer, who was now standing next to her sister.

Sawyer opened her arms and embraced her younger cousin. "So, you made it. How's it feel to officially be done your first semester of college?"

Leah shrugged. "Pretty good. I'm just happy to be home right now."

Sawyer smirked. "Who isn't?" A loud bang came from the entryway as Jamie and Lily came charging in. They stopped suddenly when they saw Leah.

"Hey, little sister." Jamie grinned at Leah nonchalantly. He gave her a sideways hug and moved back to let Lily in. She was out of breathe as she quickly embraced the younger girl.

Leah just looked between them. "What were you two doing?"

Lily glared at Jamie for a minute before answering, "Your brother was just being an ass."

Leah shot Jamie a questioning look but he just shrugged and tried to look innocent. Lily rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Where's mom?"

Leah responded, "She had to run to the studio real quick. She just dropped me off and said we could unpack the car later. And she said we're all supposed to meet them at Aunt Peyton and Uncle Lucas's at six tonight for dinner."

Jamie nodded and looked around the room with a confused look. "And where's Scott?"

Before anyone had a chance to answer him they heard the front door creak open again and someone walking towards them. When Scott walked in, they could see he had gotten much more mature since they had last seen him. His shoulders were broader and his hair was shorter and even messier. He grinned when he saw Leah standing there.

He walked right up the her and enveloped her, picking her up off the ground.

The girl shrieked and squirmed to be put down but squeezed the boy back.

"Where the hell have you been? Me and Anna have been waiting for you to get here for a half an hour."

Scott just smirked and looked excited. "I had a brilliant idea." He stopped and looked at them, trying to build anticipation. Sawyer gave him an expectant look and crossed her arms. "Well, I was talking to Uncle Luke the other night and he gave me a brilliant idea. Then I decided to make it my own. He was telling me about when they were all in high school and they had dare night. That weird pool boy guy my mom used to date planned it for them. And he was telling me all of the things they did and I started to think how awesome it would be if we had one!"

None of them said anything, waiting for him to go on. He started to look a little discouraged and quickly shot Anna a look. She rolled her eyes a little bit and raised an eyebrow slightly.

"I think that could be...interesting." He gave her another look, this time grateful.

"It will be. Come on. This is the first time we're all home at the same time since summer. It'll be awesome. With the four of us in school and you two working all the time, it'll be great to just hang out." No one answered him. "It doesn't have to be just us if you don't want..."

Lily squinted at him. "What exactly would be have to do? Because you guys may not be done with all that high school stuff, but me and Jamie are. We had enough drama when we were there."

Scott resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Just because Lily was the oldest, she had to act like she was too mature to do stuff with them. He looked at Jamie to see his reaction, knowing the blond would make or break her answer. The older boy had started smiling. He nudged the dark haired girl at his side and laughed.

"Stop being a bitch, Lils. I think it'll be fun. I bet you're just scared you're going to lose."

She raised her eyebrow at him and crossed her arms but didn't say anything. He imitated her, crossing his arms in front of his chest and popping one of his hips out. Leah laughed and nodded.

"I think Jamie's right. I'm in."

Scott smiled broadly and said, "Yes! Who else?"

Jamie grinned back and replied, "Me, obviously."

Anna was the next, just nodding her head and rolling her eyes. Sawyer broke down right after her, muttering, "fine."

Jamie elbowed Lily in the side and said, "Well, Lil. What's it going to be? A night of mayhem with your favorite cousins or a night locked in your room listening to depressing music?"

Lily glared at him again. "I do not sit in my room and listen to depressing music...anymore. And fine, I guess I'm in. But nothing weird."

Scott nodded enthusiastically. "Okay. I promise you won't regret it."

Lily pulled her phone out and looked at the cover. "Well, then I'm going to Lucas and Peyton's now. I told her I would help her with something."

Sawyer nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'll ride with you. Aunt Haley dropped us off earlier and I want to help with dinner. You coming, Anna?"

The younger girl shook her head. "I'm gonna go with Scott. I don't want him to have to drive alone." Sawyer just gave her a look.

"God forbid the boy be alone for a 10 minute car ride." Anna ignored her.

Jamie threw one arm over Leah's shoulder and sighed. "Wanna spend some time with your favorite brother? Catch me up on all your crazy college stories you've been hiding from me? I'm sick of listening to theirs." He nodded his head towards Anna and Scott.

Leah laugh and nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I'll tell you about all the wild parties on the way over." She rolled her eyes at Anna, who laughed. "No, but I will tell you about this kid who lives down the hall from me. I found out we used to go to school together when we were really little."

As they began moving towards the door, talking amongst themselves, the last thing the group heard was Leah say, "God, I missed being home."

Brooke was the first to say something. "It's weird seeing how like us they are."

Karen nodded in agreement but Luke shook his head."What do you mean?"

Haley cut in. "Come on, Luke. You have to see it. Jamie is just like you, only not so broody." Lucas glared at her a minute but turned to Brooke as the girl jumped in.

Brooke nodded. "Lily seems a lot like Peyton. In a sort of angry at the world but knows how to let loose at the same time. Leah looks so much like Haley it's not even funny but I feel like the other two convince her to do things you never would have done." She gestured to Haley before continuing. "And I have a feeling her college stories aren't going to be that crazy at all."

Nathan chimed in, "Sawyer's obviously got a lot in common with Brooke. Sort of bitchy but likes to have fun."

Brooke raised her eyebrows at the boy but before she could retort, they heard the front door opened yet again.

"It must have fallen out of my pocket when I was sitting on the couch earlier."

Anna walked into the room and headed straight towards the couch. She dropped onto all fours and peered underneath it. Scott had trailed after her and was leaning against the door frame smirking. She sat back on her heels and lifted the cushions, looking under them.

She slammed the last cushion back onto the couch and looked around frustrated. "Okay, I lied. I thought it fell out of my pocket but apparently I was wrong. I know I had it when I was sitting here. I have no idea where it could be, though." She turned her head to look at the boy.

Scott raised him arm, holding a small silver cell phone in his hand. The girl's jaw dropped opened as she took it in.

"You had it this whole time?!" Scott just chuckled and nodded. Anna stood up quickly and walked over to him. She put one hand on her hip and held the other out. "Give it back."

He shook his head and answered, "Don't you want to know why?"

Anna shook her head and glared at him. "Do I want to know why you stole my phone and watched me run around like an idiot looking for it? No. I just want you to give it back to me."

Scott suddenly stepped forward so they were almost touching. He leaned down and pressed his mouth to hers, immediately pushing her lips open with his. He grabbed her waist with his other hand and pulled her closer to him, slipping her phone into her back pocket and leaving his hand there. He broke away and leaned back.

"Are you sure you don't want to hear why I took it?" he asked teasingly.

Anna looked up and him and raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Well, see, you got home last night and I got home this morning and we were immediately thrown into bonding time with the family. Then I had my brilliant Dare Night idea and I figured out that however fun that's going to be, it meant that I wouldn't get to be alone with you until tomorrow. And that is unacceptable. I just didn't think I could wait that long."

Anna glared, not giving in so easily. "You know I hate it when people take my stuff."

Scott smirked at her again. "I think I can make it up to you." He leaned down again to capture her lips and turned so that her back was against the wall. As he started to trail his lips down her neck, she tilted her head back and sighed.

Behind them, the group was watching awkwardly. Brooke said, "Guess we know who Nathan rubbed off on." Nathan just glared at her and looked at Peyton and Lucas.

"What's up with your kids and all the secret hookups?"

Lucas and Peyton just glanced at each other and then back at the couple on the other side of the room. They didn't answer as Anna wrapped her arms around Scott's neck and tilted her head to give him better access.

"I missed you."

Hearing this, he stopped what he was doing and looked her in the eye. "I miss you too. So much." He went to start kissing her again but she put her hand on his chest, gently pushing him away.

"Listen, Scott. I know we agreed it was better to not tell anybody in the family about this until we were sure but I'm not my sister. I don't want to sneak around for years because of what they're going to think. I love you too much for that and I love them too much for that."

He looked at her with an unreadable look on his face for a minute. "So you're saying you want to tell them now?" he asked with an uncertain look.

She shook her head fiercely. "No! God, no. I just want to remind you that for now the whole secrecy thing is hot and it's working for us. But we slip up once and we're screwed. And if one person finds out, they'll all know faster then we could blink. It's just...I never meant for this to be a long term thing. We wanted to see how we would do over our first semester at college away from each other and go from there. By the end of break we need to figure out what we're going to do. I don't mean we have to tell them then. We just have to know when we're going to tell them. I don't want to lose you, you know?"

He nodded and rested his forehead against hers. After a minute he said, "Do you remember when we were little and you told me you would run away with me to the circus because you didn't want me to be alone?" Anna nodded and smiled.

"Yeah?"

"That's the day I fell in love with you."

Anna laughed louder and look down, embarrassed. "We were like 5 then, Scottie."

He chuckled and sighed. "I know. But it was than that I realized that what I was feeling for you was different than what I felt towards Leah or Sawyer. And I knew it wasn't how a cousin should feel. I always loved you and I always will but for the last twelve years I've been in love with you." Scott paused and let his eyes travel over her face. "And I don't want that to ever change."

Anna didn't say anything but just stared at him. After a moment, she stretched up to capture his lips with her own and moved her hands to either side of his face. He responded by wrapping his arms around her waist and deepening the kiss. As things began heat up between them, Quentin started to lead the group out of the room. They passed through the front door, eager and nervous at the same time to see where they would end up next.

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**Hope you all enjoyed! Don't forget to review!**


	12. Chapter 11

**Hey, guys. This was probably one of my favorite chapters to write. I'm not really sure why. So I hope you all like it as much as I do. **

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Walking through the door, the cluster of people took in the scene before them. They were standing in the courtyard at the high school, with teenagers milling about all around them and concrete tables lining the walkway near them.

"Where are we?"

Quentin glanced around himself when he heard Lucas's hesitant question. He bit his lip to keep himself from smiling and shook his head slightly. "This here is Tree Hill High School. Built in 1929 in New Brunswick County, North Carolina and home to the infamous Tree Hill Ravens. Who haven't won a championship in about 16 years at this point."

"Listen, man. We know all that. What he meant is where in our lives are we? When we see one of us walking around, how old are they going to be?"

Quentin raised his eyebrows at Nathan, letting out a deep chuckle. "Well, well. Look's like someone's getting a little testy, ain't we?"

Deb jumped in. "He's just saying that as interesting as being jerked all over time and space is, it's getting old. You can't possibly expect us to just accept this entire thing and not get impatient when we have absolutely no idea what's going to happen next. Especially when we can't even process everything we've already seen."

Q nodded, letting the smile drop from his face as he became serious. "I know this ain't easy for any of you. Seeing yourselves the way you have. You all confused and that's understandable. See right about now, you all wondering 'what can we do to change this', if there is anything to be done. But I'm only here to show you your options. Maybe give you a little reason to the madness."

"So you're trying to show us what we should change so those horrible things won't actually happen?" Brooke squinted at him. "What are you, the Ghost of Christmas Past?" Her voice was indignant as she waited for him to answer her.

"Nah, man. I'm only here to show you why. Never said you was supposed to change anything at all." He paused before continuing, "Do you remember what I told you before we left the gym?" He turned his attention to Lucas.

The boy just shook his head a little bit, clueless. After a moment, Karen jumped in and answered for him.

"You said he changed things when he joined the Ravens."

Quentin grinned at her and nodded. "Right. I said how the game changed when he stepped off the Rivercourt. And you got all mad at me cause you thought I was talking about your uncle dying. Like you made it happen or something. But that's not what I meant. Not really." He looked at the doors to their right.

They saw Lucas walk out with his arm draped over Haley's shoulders. His hair was lighter and shorter while hers had barely changed at all, still a light auburn color. They walked until they reached a table, sitting down side by side and facing outwards.

"Well, this is it, Hales. We're officially done with high school." He glanced at her. "How does it feel to never have to walk back in there again?"

Haley grimaced. "I don't know. A little sad, I guess. I'm going to miss it." She glanced at the building behind them. "Especially the tutor center."

Lucas tilted his head back and groaned. "Come on, Haley. Now isn't the time to be sad about all that. Get excited. You're going to Stanford. You're finally going to get your dream!"

Haley laughed and bit her lip. "Yeah..."

"What? You're not having second thoughts, are you?"

The girl shook her head vehemently. "No! No, not at all. It's just...I feel like I've spent the last four years here and I didn't do everything I should have. Or everything I could have."

Luke gave her a questioning look. She just shrugged at him.

"I don't know, Luke. I mean people talk about high school for the rest of their lives. They say it was the best and the worst four years of their lives. For me, it wasn't any of that. It was just..." She trailed off, not knowing how to continue.

"You feel like there's something you were meant to do but never got to."

Haley snapped her head around to glance at the boy, who was looking away from her across the courtyard. "Exactly." She followed his gaze, her eyes falling on a slender blond walking through the doors they had just moved through. Suddenly, his change in attitude made sense to her.

Peyton was walking with her head down and her arms wrapped around a sketchbook, hugging it tightly to her body. Her hair was loosely curled and darker than her younger counterpart's.

"Looks like my predictions aren't going to come true anytime soon."

Haley shrugged. "One of them did." When she saw the confused look on her face, she elaborated. "You said you would talk to her. And technically you did. Last year when her car broke down. It's not your fault she was a bitch." Haley started laughing at the end of her sentence.

Lucas shook his head and bumped her shoulder. "Shut up. She was probably just in a bad mood." Haley shook her head as Nathan walked out of the school. He ran to catch up to Peyton, throwing his arm over her shoulder and pulling her close to him. She pulled away and just glared up at him. Lucas and Haley were to far away to hear the couple as they began fighting.

"Or maybe she's just a bitch."

Luke shook his head again. "Wouldn't you be if you were dating that?" He gestured to his dark haired brother. Haley nodded, agreeing with him.

"I honestly can't believe you two are related. He's such an ass." She shook her head, watching the way the two interacted with each other. "I think they make a good pair, to tell the truth."

Luke shrugged his shoulder, still staring at the pair. "But I think there's more to her. I know there is. I think she just puts up a tough front to protect herself. I heard her dad is always gone for work and her mom died when she was little." He stopped, letting what he said sink in. "Plus, her best friend moved away last year."

Haley snorted. "Are you kidding me? Brooke Davis transferring was the best thing to ever happen to this school. You've always agreed with me on that."

The boy nodded, almost imperceptibly. "Maybe." He shrugged. "Or maybe there was more to her too."

Haley rolled her eyes. "Sure. And Nathan Scott is actually a really great guy deep down inside." In the distance, they saw the tall boy hold up his hands and start backing away from Peyton. He said one last obviously biting remark to her before turning and walking away. The girl just scowled after him and then stomped away.

"Guess we'll never know." He let out a sigh and leaned back against the table. "Okay, we need to cheer up. Today's the last day of senior year. We should be having fun."

Haley nodded, mimicking his position. "So...Rivercourt later?" The boy nodded in response.

"Oh, I completely forgot. My mom wanted me to ask you if after graduation you and your parents wanted to come back to the Cafe with us and Keith for lunch to celebrate." Haley bobbed her head up and down.

"Okay. I'll talk to them." She glanced down at the watch on her wrist. "Speaking of, I told Karen I'd head over early today to help out. Meet you later?"

As she stood up, Luke got up too, saying "Sounds good. I'm probably gonna go play ball now. Mouth said Skills and the guys were heading over right after school. We might stop by to see Mrs. Edwards too...just because today would have been his last day too."

Haley's face became solemn at the boy's somber tone. "That's really nice, Luke. I'm sure he would have liked that." She paused before reaching up and hugging him. "I'm so glad you're my best friend, Luke. My life wouldn't have been the same without you," she whispered.

Luke hugged her back and they saw him squeeze his eyes shut. "I know. I love you, Hales." They stayed like that for a minute before pulling away.

"Now get to work. Or else my mom is going to fire you." Haley laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah." She turned around and began to walk away. "See you later!" she called over her shoulder. Lucas nodded even though he knew she couldn't see him, and started heading in the opposite direction.

Behind them the group stood in confusion, staring after their retreating figures. Brooke was the first one to speak up. "I don't understand. I thought Haley got pregnant when we were 17?"

"Things change. Here, Coach never joined the team. He was never a part of your life. So neither was Ms. James."

Nathan's forehead creased. "So we never got together?"

At the same time Haley said, "So Jamie was never born?"

Quentin didn't answer either of them but instead just started walking towards the school, knowing they would follow along behind him. After the went through the doors, they looked around the room they were now standing in. It was obviously a living room, with a dark leather couch and a large flat screen TV on the wall. They could see a picture standing up on the table next to the sofa but other than that, there weren't many other signs of personal belongings.

"I don't know what you want from me, Peyton!"

They all turned to stare at the yell that came from outside the room. Suddenly the door was thrown open and an older, very pissed off looking Peyton walked in. Nathan was right behind her, looking just as angry.

"It doesn't help if you just keep walking away from me! Why can't you just talk to me?" Getting no answer, he continued, "What do you want from me?"

The blond woman whirled around the face him, crossing her arms over her chest. "What I want if for you to stop lying to me, Nathan!"

Nathan just rolled his eyes. "Not this again," he muttered, shaking his head as he looked around the room. "For the last time, I don't know what you're talking about!"

Peyton laughed sharply. When she spoke again, her voice was low and laced with disgust. "Do you think I'm an idiot, Nathan?" She didn't wait long enough for him to answer. "I got a call today." Nathan took a step back when he heard the furious tone that had made it's way into her speech. "It was a girl saying that she slept with you at a party while you were away." Nathan's face had become serious, almost fearful, while listening to these words.

"Peyton..."

She shook her head and spoke over him. "Do you want to know what the funniest thing she said was?" She paused for a second, not for him to defend himself but to try and keep her calm. "She said she was pregnant. That _you_ got her pregnant."

"Peyton, I can explain."

She just shook her head and held up her hand. "Don't. Just tell me one thing. How many others are there?"

Nathan hesitated, shaking his head slightly. He looked away guiltily, his eyes going anywhere but her face. She just shook her head and looked away, crossing her arms again.

"That many, huh? This is unbelievable." She stopped. "No, actually, it's completely believable. I'm just surprised I didn't figure it out sooner. I guess I was trying to believe that some part of you, however small that part might have been, was actually decent. That you were actually a good guy. But now I am finally going to see you for what you really are." She stared at him. "I cannot believe I wasted the last six years of my life listening to your lies and your excuses."

"Peyton, please. I'm sorry. I never meant for it to happen. I was drunk and I missed you. They didn't mean anything. I swear."

The blond shook her head at him. "Don't, Nathan. Just...don't. I don't feel like listening to it." She went to walk around him but he grabbed her shoulders and stopped her.

"Please, Peyton. I'll do anything. I'm so sorry. I love you."

She pulled herself away from him and yelled, "Did you love me while you were screwing all those other girls, Nathan?! Did you really miss me when you were on top of them?" She grabbed the picture from the table next to her. Holding it up, the group could see enough of it to realize it was a wedding photo of the couple in front of them. She looked at it briefly before throwing it on the ground, shattering the glass. "This was all bullshit! All of it! Everything you ever said to me!" She looked disgusted as she took a deep breathe and squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened they again, she looked a little bit calmer. "I'm done. I'm done with this marriage and I'm done with you. I'm just...done." She walked around him.

As she reached the door, Nathan said, "But I do love you. I don't know what I would do without you."

She paused, not bothering to turn around. "I guess you should have thought about that before." She made a move to keep going but stopped to add, I don't even know who you are anymore, Nathan. I don't love you. I'm don't think I have in a really long time. And I'm not going to let myself be trapped in a miserable marriage anymore. I'm not going to let us become your parents." With that she walked out, leaving Nathan behind her. He stared after her for a moment before sitting down heavily on the couch and leaning forward, cradling his head in his hands. He let out a deep sigh and shook his head.

Silently, Quentin moved towards the door that Peyton had just gone through. Not exchanging any words between them, they walked through behind him and found themselves stepping onto a balcony high above a busy street. There were two white chairs there, occupied by Brooke and Peyton. Both of the women were holding coffee mugs in their hands and looking out at the city around them. Brooke had a pair of dark sunglasses perched on her nose and was looking at the blond sitting besides her.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, P. Sawyer, but what are you doing here?"

"Can't I just want to see my best friend?" Brooke raised her eyebrows are the Peyton. The other girl sighed before avoiding the question. "Do you ever think we didn't do things right?"

Brooke smiled uncomfortably. "Sometimes, I guess. But then I come out here and look at where I am right now and I think I must have done something right." Peyton didn't answer, but stared down at the crowds below them. "Why? Did something happen, Peyton?"

She only nodded absently but didn't explain herself. They sat like that for a minute, before Brooke reached over and placed her hand on top of Peyton's. "What is it? What's wrong? Are you in trouble?"

"I left Nathan."

The brunette nodded, not looking surprised. Shrugging, she replied, "For how long this time?"

Peyton snapped her head around to look at Brooke. "For good."

Brooke laughed a little and rolled her eyes. "That's what you said the last you left him. And the time before that. And the time before that." Seeing Peyton's glare, Brooke hurriedly moved on. "I don't mean to brush you off but every time you leave him, you always end up going back. You say maybe this time he'll be different. Maybe he's actually changed. That he really is a good person deep down."

The blond shook her head absently. "I was wrong. I can't go back to him now."

Brooke cocked her eyebrow at the tone in her friend's voice. "Why? What did he do? He didn't hit you, did he?" Brooke's voice had taken on a defensive tone.

"No! No. He wouldn't..." Brooke nodded, relieved.

"Then what is it? Whatever it is, it can't be that bad."

"He cheated." Brooke looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to go on. When it became clear she wasn't going to, Brooke gave her a one shoulder shrug.

"Peyton, I'm not saying it was right but were you really that surprised by it? He's on the road so much. And you know how he gets when he's drunk. He probably just missed you. I'm sure it didn't mean anything."

"One of them's pregnant. Her name's Renee and she met him at a party after one of his away games. She said she's going to the press if we don't pay her."

Brooke's eyes widened. "What?" She blinked and sat back. "Are you sure she's telling the truth?"

Peyton shrugged. "Does it really matter? It's like I've finally realized that I've been living a lie. I do believe her. And he didn't deny it so obviously he remembers her. There were others too." She broke off, looking away from Brooke. "God, I am such an idiot. I always had a feeling but I never wanted to believe that he could..." She shook her head. "I've wasted the last ten years of my life on him. People said it was so romantic that I was marrying my high school sweetheart but they didn't know anything."

Brooke squeezed her hand. "So what are you going to do?"

The woman sitting next to her sighed deeply. "I'm going to divorce him."

"Are you sure that's what you want?" Brooke asked hesitantly.

Peyton nodded. "If there was any part of me that doubted this baby being his, I would stay with him. But I don't. I can't take this anymore. This isn't how I want my life to be. Plus, if this gets out, the press is going to have a field day. We're both going to be harassed by reporters and it'll be all over the tabloids. I'm just hoping if I can get the divorce to go through fast enough, I'll be able to get away before it all comes down. This is the one thing I'm not going to put myself through for his sake." She paused to think for a minute before continuing, "Everything I've done has been for him. I can't remember the last time I did something that I wanted to do. I went to Duke to stay with him and I moved to Charlotte for him to be closer to the Bobcats. I said yes when he asked me to marry him knowing that it wasn't really what I wanted."

Brooke hesitated before asking her next question. "So why have you stayed with him all this time, then? If he makes you so unhappy?"

Peyton shrugged and sighed quietly. "I don't know, Brooke." She turned to look her in the eye. "He was the only constant in my life. All through high school, he was there. Even when he was being an ass, at least he was there. Especially after you left, I just thought 'at least I have him.' And the thing is, I knew I would always have him. All the times we broke up, it was me saying we were over. All those times we fought after we got married, it was me walking out on him. Never the other way around."

Brooke nodded. "What about everything else? What are you going to do about your job and Charlotte?"

"I was thinking of moving. Going to L.A. and starting over. There's nothing left for me here and I just want to go somewhere that I can be a new person." She paused, hesitant. "And I want you to come with me." As she finished speaking, she stared at Brooke, looking to see her reaction.

Brooke's mouth opened but nothing came out. She blinked a couple times and just stared.

"Say something."

The dark haired girl shook her head as if to clear her thought. "Peyton, I can't. I can't just up and leave. I have a life here. I have a job and friends and..." While she was speaking, Peyton was nodding her head at everything the girl said.

"I know that Brooke. But you're not happy. I can tell you're not happy. You have a job as an assistant. The only thing you do with your friends is go out and party. I know you're wearing those sunglasses right now because you have a killer hangover and the light is hurting your eyes. I could tell from the moment I knocked on your door this morning. And I'm willing to bet this is probably at least the fourth time this week alone you've woken up like this. You could be so much better than this. You can't be satisfied taking orders from some nobody and going to clubs and finding a new conquest every night. You are too amazingly talented for it and if you would just believe that, you could do such great things."

Brooke shook her head and refused to look in Peyton's direction. Everything the blond had said was true but she wasn't ready to admit it yet. "But L.A.? What would I do there?"

"You could start your own line! You could do it."

The brunette shook her head again. "No, I can't. I mean, I don't have the money or the connections or..." She trailed off.

"I'll help you. I have money put away. And I'm going to get more in this divorce. With all the endorsements Nathan's been doing and his salary for the Bobcats, I'm going to get a lot of more. You can do the designs and I'll help you with the business part."

Brooke stared off, biting her lip. She thought for a couple of minutes before nodding slightly. "Okay."

"Really?" Peyton said excitedly. Brooke nodded again, this time more confidant. The blond leaned over in her seat and wrapped her arms around the brunette. "This is going to be good for us, B. Davis. You'll see."

"I just want you to know, I'm doing this for you. Because you're my best friend and I love you and I could never send you to the other side of the country by yourself. Plus, I've missed you so incredibly much and the last time I remember being really happy was when I was in Tree Hill with you. Maybe taking a risk like this will change our lives. I think you're right when you say this is going to be good for us."

Peyton grinned. Brooke smiled back and then wrinkled her forehead. "Also, Bitchtoria just informed me that she's relocating to the East Coast. So moving to L.A. will be very useful in getting myself as far away from her as possible."

Peyton laughed and leaned back in her chair. Brooke continued, "I am going to miss this apartment though. You have no idea how hard it is to find a place with a balcony in New York?" Peyton chuckled again and they fell into a comfortable silence. Brooke glanced the the woman sitting next to her.

"You know how you said you felt like something went wrong somewhere along the line?"

Peyton nodded and tilted her head. "Yeah?"

"I feel the same way. Most of the time actually. I hate the way my life has turned out and the only time I can admit that to myself if when I'm with you. I'm not proud of the way I've been living but now that we're doing this, I hope you can bring out the best in me."

The other woman blinked. "Hopefully, we can bring out the best in each other."

Brooke grinned and enthusiastically said, "We're totally gonna meet some hot guys over there. This is sounding more and more fun."

Peyton rolled her eyes. "Brooke, I'm technically not even separated yet."

The other woman ignored her. "I'm thinking movie producer. Or a director. Or both. No actors though. Too full of themselves." She grinned at Peyton. "What about you, P. Sawyer? Have any requirements for your future boy toy of the West Coast?"

Peyton couldn't help but laugh. "Well, I guess it wouldn't be so bad if sometime in the very distant future I met someone. A long, long time from now...Preferably with a nice grin and who could make me laugh."

Brooke nodded in agreement. "You definitely need someone to make you laugh, especially after Mr. I'm-best-friends-with-the-village-idiot-and-can-only-make-jokes-that-he-would-understand."

"Leave Tim alone. He's nice. Not the brightest, but he's still a good guy."

Brooke rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. He was an especially good guy all those times he 'slipped' and groped me." They both started laughing.

"I wonder whatever happened to him?"

Brooke jumped in. "Him and Bevin got married! And had a kid." Peyton's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "A boy. They named him Nathan." A grin started to come over her face as she waited for the other woman's reaction.

"No!" Peyton shook her head, the same type of smirk starting to grow on her face. "Bevin and Tim?" She blinked a couple times before shrugging. "I can see that."

Brooke nodded in agreement and tilted her head back, letting the sun hit her face. If it weren't for the sound of the cars going by miles below them, she could almost pretend she was on the beach in the town she grew up in. Even if she would never say it out loud, she misses it there, more than she ever thought she would have.

Peyton pulled her from her thoughts, her tone suddenly serious. "I feel bad for them."

"For who?"

"Renee and her baby. If I was her I would get far, far away from Nathan and never talk to him again."

Brooke just looked at her with a silent question on her face. "P. Sawyer, you're not pregnant are you?"

"No! Oh, god no. If there was one thing I was always careful of, it was making sure Nathan never had a child by me. I could never give him that kind of control over me, or do that to a baby. That man would be exactly like his father. Sometimes, I would listen to the things he said or watch the things he did and swear I was looking straight at Dan Scott."

Brooke nodded. "What do you think he's going to do about the baby?"

This time Peyton shrugged. "I honestly couldn't tell you. I can only see it turning out two ways though. Either he stays, like Dan did for him, and ruins it's life or he doesn't and it grows up with no father. I mean, there really is no good that could come from him reproducing. He's basically just dropping another sucker into this whole mess that is the Scott family."

Brooke didn't answer. She was trying to let all these new things sink in and to be honest it was throwing her off. She had been in such a routine of work, party, sleep and repeat she didn't really know how to change that.

"I guess it doesn't really matter for me anyway. Besides divorce attorneys, I plan on having nothing to do with him ever again." She looked at Brooke to make sure the woman was listening intently. "And whatever happens I need you promise me something." Brooke nodded to show her agreement and waiting for Peyton to continue. "Don't let me go back to him. I don't care if you have to drug or tie me up or whatever. Just don't let me go back to him."

"I promise. No matter how bitchy you get towards me, I'll keep you away from him." Brooke grinned, trying to lighten the mood. "We're going to be too distracted by our new lives in L.A. for you to even think about him soon. And our new boys. Just wait and see. You're not even going to remember who Nathan Scott is in a couple months. "

"Hopefully." Neither of the women spoke and the group watched at Quentin turned to face them. He nodded his head towards the sliding glass door behind them, motioning for them to enter before him. They filed through and found themselves going into Whitey's office. Or what had once been Whitey's office.

At the desk sat Lucas, going over the papers before him. He was in the navy coaches suit and was leaning his head heavily upon one of his hands. His forehead was scrunched in concentration as he wrote something down. Suddenly there was a knock at the door and they turned to see Haley standing there.

"Hey, Coach." She grinned at the man as he looked up from his work.

"Hey, Hales. What's up?"

The woman shrugged. "Nothing, really. Just got done grading some papers and I decided we should go out tonight." She waited to see his reaction as he cocked his eyebrow at her.

"Go out? As in to the bar?"

"Well, yeah. I figured we mine as well. I mean Quinn's coming into town. I don't know if David's going to be with her. Mouth is visiting from Omaha. We can call Skills too. I'm sure he'll bring Junk and Fergie." Lucas just looked at her suspiciously until she sighed and rolled her eyes. "And Taylor may or may not have called me to tell me she was going to be coming in and staying with me for a little bit."

Lucas sighed massaged the space between his eyes. "At least she called this time."

Haley nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm just grateful that Quinn's going to be here too so I don't have to deal with her alone. It's just anytime the three of us are alone we always end up fighting so I figured it would be better if we went out. Only if it was just the three of us, we would still end up fighting, which is why I really need you to come."

"I don't know, Haley. I really don't feel like having to fend your sister off tonight."

The woman laughed. "I promise, I'll try to keep her away from you. I'll tell her you have a girlfriend or something."

"Like that's ever stopped her before."

"Okay, fine. Then I'll tell her you're gay."

Lucas shook his head and muttered, "She'd probably just say she could change my mind anyway." He looked at Haley and continued. "Fine. I'll go. But on one condition." She waited expectantly. "She better not wake up in my bed like last time."

Her head bobbed up and down as she nodded enthusiastically. "I promise I'll get her back to my place if I have to carry her there myself." She started backing towards the door. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Before she could walk out of the room, Lucas looked up at her and called out. "Hey, Hales?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever think about the last day of high school. What we talked about on the quad?"

Her forehead wrinkled as she tried to think back to that day. "You mean about Peyton Sawyer and all?"

"No. Yes. I mean our predictions. About them not coming true and you saying you felt like there was something you were supposed to do but never got to?"

Haley let the confusion drop from her face as she started thinking again. "I don't know. I guess I do sometimes. But I love my job and I'm happy I get to be here in Tree Hill with the people I love. I mean I got what I wanted and it seems sort of selfish to want more than that." She gave his a concerned look as she asked, "Why are you bringing it up, Luke?"

He shrugged and shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "I don't know. I guess I've been thinking about it a lot lately. It juts seems sort of wrong that none of them came true. We never did any of the things we were going to. My mom and Andy are still only friends and that's probably all they will ever be. I never imagined myself here, coaching a team I could never even bring myself to be part of. Sometimes, it just seems like this was the easy life. And if we'd just taken more risks, we might have been better off."

Haley stayed silent for a minute, trying to think of something to say to him. "You know, Luke, things might not have turned out perfect but at least we're happy." She moved further into the room and sat on the edge of his desk "And as for never being part of the team, your reasons weren't exactly unfounded. If I were you, I wouldn't have wanted to spend anymore time with Nathan Scott than I had to. Or your father for that matter. You definitely dodged a bullet by not joining the team. I think that maybe you would have gotten sucked into that world. And of course I would have gone with you because I love you." She rolled her eyes, trying to show him she was just joking. He smiled, letting her know that it was working.

"Who knows. You might have ended up liking some of the people from that world. You could have been good friends with Brooke Davis for all we know."

Haley rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Yeah, like that was ever even remotely possible."

Luke laughed and shook his head. He started gathering his paperwork together and stood up. "Well, at least Keith had an in with the coach. If he hadn't recommended me for the job, I probably would have moved away from Tree Hill and I know you wouldn't have known how to function without me."

Haley looked at him incredulously. "You do realize I went to college on the other side of the country, right?"

He started to laugh as he walked around his desk. Throwing his arm around her shoulder he said, "Look at us. The head basketball coach and English teacher at the high school we graduated from. Could we get anymore small town?"

Haley was quick to elbow him in the side as they began to move out of the room. "Shut up!" Lucas flipped the lights out as the pair walked out, leaving the group behind them in darkness. Quentin moved to follow the two who had gone before them, leading them into the very gym that they had started in.

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